Carmina Burana
Aside from the music appreciation class which I still can’t believe I passed, I sadly admit that I know nothing about music. Not even “cool” modern hits ring a bell. I do though enjoy musical events to extreme degrees, mainly for the same reason I enjoy the World Cup, so while 79% of your average West-Ammanite crowd was heading to Petra for Tiesto (who I’ve never heard of either), I grabbed M and H and headed to the Roman Amphitheater of downtown Amman to spend the night listening to classical scores in a joint performance by the Cairo Symphony Orchestra and the Amman Symphony Orchestra, accompanied by the Choir the Holy Spirit University. Together, they performed Carmina Burana (Carl Oref), Choral Fantasy (Beethoven), and Rhapsody in Blue (Gershwin).
The concert was quite fantastic, and I greatly enjoyed myself. Nothing could possibly deliver a better experience than a combination of a 2000-year-old Roman amphitheatre, wonderful music, an open space setting with fresh clean air, and good company, although I was honestly not much entertained by M who kept shushing me or by H, with her BA in music, who kept rolling her eyes and telling me to shut up. She even told me I make the worst audience ever, which sucks, cause I think I make an awesome audience.
I will not attempt to BS my way into sounding like an awesome music critic though, because it is late and I am sleepy, but the concert was a great job done. The musicians played with such a passion, and did a wonderful job at transforming their energy and music into the audience, who gave them a standing ovation. It was also very well organized, and there was a large, diverse crowd.
This concert was my first time to the Roman Amphitheatre downtown, and it really makes a brilliant venue for such events. In fact, so good that I think I might even attend a show or two at the Jerash Festival this year.
Here’s a little video from the concert:
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kinzi
July 6, 2007 @ 9:10 am
Roba, thanks for the photos! Especially Hind! I’m not a music critic either, but I know what I like, and that was it.
Maher
July 6, 2007 @ 11:07 am
i was sitting in the middle i guess.
We had fun!
Hareega
July 6, 2007 @ 11:37 am
can’t see the video
hind sabanekh
July 6, 2007 @ 1:48 pm
nice pictures by the way :) you caught one while i was playing nice!! hehe
Roba
July 6, 2007 @ 2:00 pm
Sorry guys, I fixed the video you can see it now :)
Sarfaraz Jamal
July 6, 2007 @ 6:16 pm
Do you know if there will be any more events at the amphitheater or if there is a listing of events anywhere?
nasimjo
July 8, 2007 @ 9:05 am
wonderful night, wonderful orchestra …
really released my stress out… I felt “nearly” like if i was born again!
Mehul Kamdar
July 20, 2007 @ 6:07 pm
Just learned about your blog from Gulf News – I have been following Turkish musicians on Youtube recently. Now, I have the Cairo and Amman Symphony Orchestras to look forward to. Thank you very much for these suggestions, albeit indirect ones through your blog. A performance of Orff’s Carmina Burana in an ancient Roman Amphitheatre – gosh! It must have been divine!