In mid-July, American Voices, an organization that mobilizes concerned artists, presented the Iraq Summer Performing and Visual Arts Academy, a groundbreaking program in the northern region of Iraq. Over nine days, US- and European-music, dance, and theater instructors provided free training to 350 of the war-torn country’s performers in Erbil, Suleimanya, and Dohuk before staging gala concerts.

The music academy made history by uniting four Iraqi orchestras and a newly formed youth orchestra on one stage.

“So many aspects of this project are groundbreaking,” says American Voices executive director John Ferguson. “The audience is not used to classical symphonic music.”

Among the educators participating in the program were Allegra Klein, a violinist and arts administrator in New York; violinist Mark Thayer, vice president of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra’s education and community partnerships program; David Handel, conductor of the National Orchestra of Bolivia and the Uncuyo Orchestra of Mendoza, Argentina; and Demetrius Fuller, who is a conductor in Florida.

Sponsored by the United States Embassy with support from the Ministries of Culture in Iraq and the Kurdish Autonomous Region, the project featured participants from the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra; the symphony orchestras of Erbil and Suleimanya; the Baghdad School of Music and Dance; the National Folk Dancers of Iraq; and the institutes of fine arts in Erbil, Suleimanya, and Dohuk.

‘So many aspects of this project are groundbreaking.’

—John Ferguson

Klein, founder and president of the New York-based Musicians for Harmony, shared her knowledge of chamber music and the Suzuki method during the program, which she hopes will have a lasting effect.

“The way [Iraqis] learned music had been haphazard,” Klein says, “and there hasn’t been a consistent method of teaching in the past few decades. I want to bring them something they can teach to generations.”

While some Iraqis frown upon all things Western, including chamber music, Klein feels confident her teachings will not be problematic. “Suzuki is Eastern [in origin], which makes it safer, acceptable, and easier,” she says.

JOHN FERGUSON

ALLEGRA KLEIN

STAYING SAFE

It’s been four years since Klein’s last trip to Iraq, and she was excited to see the friends she made in the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra during her visit to the embattled Green Zone in Baghdad.

Klein’s friends told her that northern Iraq, a relative sanctuary for those fleeing the sectarian violence in the south, would be much safer.

“Northern Iraq is almost like a different country,” she says. “It’s known to be friendly to Americans . . . . They love Americans there. [Americans] are like rock stars.”

The trip, she says, would also be beneficial for Iraqi musicians.

“[Northern Iraq] is a haven for the other musicians in Baghdad,” she says. “It’s going to be a break from all of the difficulties they face on a daily basis.”

Reflecting on an earlier February 17 concert that he arranged with the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra in Baghdad, Ferguson says there was an element of fear among those musicians, since several of their colleagues have been murdered or terrorized. Rehearsals and even practicing at home could put their lives in danger, Ferguson says, and walking the streets with an instrument could make them a target.

If a terrorist were to find a picture of the musicians cooperating with an American, he says, it might mean death. “It’s tough for [musicians] to come together because they become a big target,” Klein confirms.

Though it was daring to perform during that time in February, the musicians came away feeling positive. They had been able to play works by American composers, a treat denied Iraqis since deposed dictator Saddam Hussein’s relations with the West turned sour.

“They were very excited about the repertoire,” Ferguson says. “It opened a whole new world of music for them. They had so much fun with it.”

The summer academy’s galas also required a bit of security: performances were invitation only. “We [didn’t] want suicide bombers coming into our hall,” Ferguson says.

Ferguson hopes that the American Voices experience in Iraq can be applied to his larger goal of reaching musicians across the globe.

“We are going to be presenting stuff that has never been on their radar screen,” he says. “We are like a musical Doctors without Borders.”

American Voices hopes to offer pedagogical training during the coming academic year in Iraq. Donations of instruments, strings, sheet music, and other supplies are needed. Find details at www.americanvoices.org.