Music of Exile with Syrian viola player Raghad Haddad

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Sussex meets Syria in a unique cross-cultural collaboration

A new piece of music Music for Exile blending Western and Arabic classical music has its world premiere in Lewes on November 13th, featuring Syrian viola player Raghad Haddad.  

Directed by Andrew Sherwood, the concert also includes Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major [including Hans Keller's (wordless) Functional Analysis No 13 of the same work (1963)]; David Jenner The Sky Above Cissbury and Gustav Holst St Paul's Suite for Strings. 

Music for Exile for Viola and Thirteen Solo Strings was created by Sussex-based composer Peter Copley in collaboration with Syrian viola player Raghad Haddad.  

Raghad Haddad is a classically trained Syrian viola player who also improvises on and performs Arabic folk music.  After graduating from the conservatoire in Damascus, Raghad was performing both western classical music with the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra, as well as music from the east with the Syrian National Orchestra.  However she was forced into exile by the war in Syria and has made a new life in the UK.