The Austrian duos Vila Madalena is one of the groups, which are scheduled to give their performance on the very first day of the festival, the organizer announced in a press release published on Monday. ISTAM Ritual Groups, Respina String Quartet, Namad String Quartet and Jav Ensemble are among the Iranian participating musicians on the first day. The organizers of the 36th edition of the festival decided to stream the performances online this year due to the pandemic and coronavirus restrictions. A number of international musicians have been invited to give performances during the festival. The musicians include cellist Martin Melendez from Cuba, pianist Moritz Ernst and saxophonist Timo Vollbrecht from Germany, and pianist Gianna Fratta and violinist Dino Di Palma from Italy. In addition, the Austrian duos Vila Madalena and Sain Mus will also perform at the festival. Accordionist Nikola Zaric and clarinet and saxophone player Franz Oberthaler are the members of Vila Madalena, and the Sain Mus duo features guitarist Phillip Erasmus and cellist Clemens Sainitzer. The performances by Martin Melendez and Vila Madalena have been recorded in their country exclusively for the festival and will be broadcast during the festival. The piano solo by Moritz Ernst and the duet by Gianna Fratta and Dino Di Palma will be recorded in Iran. The organizers also plan to honor veteran musicians Mohammadreza Es’haqi Gorji, Maliheh Saeidi and Hassan Nahid with the lifetime achievement awards. They also plan to pay tribute to composer Ahmad-Ali Ragheb, who died of cancer last December. Due to the pandemic, the 36th Fajr Music Festival will be running online from February 16 to 21.
Source: Tehran Times