Website: http://www.albustanfestival.com/

Date: February 21 to March 25, 2012
Country: Lebanon

The Al Bustan Festival has been presenting five weeks full of concerts and performances, showcasing diverse cultural performances ever since the foundation in 1994. The annual event that offers an audacious selection of music and artists was established to help revive Lebanon’s cultural life after 17 years of war. While the programme is mainly dedicated to chamber music, the festival also includes opera, choral music, orchestral concerts in addition to other artistic talents. This unique and unprecedented tradition of Lebanon presents more than 30 astonishing performances in a relaxing environment, on a hillside overlooking the beautiful city of Beirut and the Mediterranean in the winter.

Taking on the name of the festival ‘Al Bustan’, Arabic for ‘The Garden’, most performances take place in the Emile Bustani Auditorium and the Crystal Garden Conservatory of the five-star Al Bustan Hotel, located in the village of Beyt Meri. However, events are not limited to those locations, visitors can experience performances in some of the olden and historic churches and halls around Lebanon too.

Each year focuses on a theme or salutes the culture of a particular country. Along with the talented performances, the Festival also organizes master classes and workshops, with the participating artists at the National Conservatoire in Beirut and other institutions across Lebanon.

Themed upon ‘Music From Latin America’, the 2012 edition welcomes the collaboration of soprano Eglise Guttierez and The Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra under Ligia Amadio’s baton. Piazolla’s Oratorio will be performed by The Antonine University mixed choir and The Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra under Gianluca Marciano’s baton, with soloists Guadaloupe Jimenez and Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi. Armenian conductor Davit Harutyunyan will lead Orquesta Sinfonica de Guayaquil from Equador in collaboration with Lebanese violinist Jorge Saadé to present works by Ecuadorian and Mexican composers. Soloists Gianluca Marciano, Cristina Ortiz, Linda Bustani, Maurizio Nader, Alexander Ghindin, Luis Bacalov and more will also be under the spotlight.