Al Nour Wal Amal orchestra prepares for Belgium

In Belgium, the orchestra will perform on Sunday 17 June in Kortrijk (100 km from Brussels), on the final day of a medical symposium themed "An eye for music" and revolving around attracting attention to the problems of the eye through music. Their trip to Belgium was organised by Junior Chamber International (JCI) Menen-Wevelgem, an association for the young, who aim at developing projects with a positive impact on society. Following this performance, on 19 June, the orchestra will perform in Graz, Austria. This is the second visit to Graz of Al Nour Wal Amal orchestra. Their first concert in this city took place in September 2011, when the orchestra was touring a number of European countries, including Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The orchestra was created by Istiklal Radi, the first director of the association. The late Samha Khouli, the former president of the Academy of Arts and former dean of the Cairo Conservatory, provided the association with an academic basis for the training of professional musicians. For two decades, the orchestra was trained and conducted by the late Ahmed Abul-Eid. Today, it is under the artistic supervision of Ines Abdel-Daim, chairperson of the Cairo Opera House, and conducted and trained by Aly Osman. The first generation of musicians formed an orchestra consisting of 16 girls. Today, it has 38 musicians, representing mainly third generation graduates of the Al-Nour Wal Amal Music Institute. The orchestra performs extensively in Egypt and has over 20 international trips on its resume. From Ahram