Ode to Jordan: Maestro Riccardo Muti, Cherubini Orchestra to perform in Jersah on July 9

AMMAN — The Jordan Italian Forum for Cooperation (JIFCO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and the Jordan Tourism Board, announced that a concert, led by Maestro Riccardo Muti, will be held at the Jerash Amphitheatre on July 9. 

Within the frame of Ravenna Festival’s “Roads of Friendship” project, which aims to promote friendship and communication through music, young Jordanian musicians will join the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra in a performance of the second act from Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice, arias and choirs from Bellini’s Norma (including “Casta diva”), and Brahms’s Schicksalslied, according to a statement from the organisers. 

The 200 Italian and Jordanian musicians will perform under Muti’s baton also in Ravenna on July 7 and Pompeii on July 11.

Since 1997, Ravenna Festival’s annual Roads of Friendship project has visited places that have made ancient and contemporary history. 

This year, the project is travelling to Jordan, a country that not only provides support to the refugee camps within its borders alongside the UNHCR and international organisations, but has also integrated most of the refugees into its communities. 

The concert in Jerash, the “Pompeii of the East”, will pay tribute to “this admirable spirit of brotherhood while offering the Jordanian community and music enthusiasts from all over the world a once-in-a-lifetime experience”. 

The Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts will also host a joint mosaic exhibition by young artists from Ravenna and Madaba, opening on July 3. 

Following its debut in Jordan, the exhibition will travel to Ravenna, and feature in the Biennale exhibit in October 2023. 

JIFCO is also promoting a cultural tour of Jordan during the first week of July, which will include concerts in Petra and at the Amman Amphitheatre.

The concert in Jerash is supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation with the assistance of the Italian embassy in Amman, and by the Emilia-Romagna Region. In line with the strategy of strengthening cultural ties between Italy and Jordan, the Italian foreign ministry will open a new Italian Cultural Institute in Amman, the statement said.