The Light and Hope Orchestra Around The World

Two weeks ago, the Light and Hope Orchestra, a group of 38 blind girls from Egypt who play western classical music as well as oriental music, started a tour around Europe and have to date impressed a huge European audience. On September 8 2001, the Light and Hope Orchestra played at the Viennese Municipality (Grosser Saal), one of the most beautiful historical halls at the Municipality of Vienna. The event was attended by over 2000 Austrians, among them ministers, parliamentarians, politicians, ambassadors, diplomats, doctors, professors, priests, and many intellectuals notables from the Christian and Muslim communities of Vienna.

The cultural evening was supported by the Mayor of Vienna Dr. Michael Häupl and was held under the auspices of Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt in Vienna, the Egyptian culture Counselor Dr. Morsy Abu-Youssef, and with the kind support of the Egyptian Ambassador Dr. Khalid Shama in Vienna and former Deputy Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The audience of the musical evening listened with great respect to the Light and Hope Orchestra, which played several pieces from Johannes Brahms, W. A. Mozart, Johann Strauss II, Mikis Theodorakis, Piotr Tchaikovsky, Antonín Dvorák, Rageh Dawood, Giuseppe Verdi and other famous componists. The audience was seen standing up and warmly applauding the music with obvious admiration for the various musical pieces.

A Brief about the the Light and Hope Orchestra

The Music Institute Orchestra began as a group of 15 girls and over the years developed into a Chamber Orchestra of 38 girls, which became the most famous part of the Nour Wal Amal Association. In the last twenty years, the Orchestra was trained and conducted by the late Maestro Ahmed Abul Eid, who had succeeded in developing special techniques and methods to enable the girls to perform as an orchestra without the need to read the notes while performing, and without the very essential dependence on the famous “baton” of the conductor. The Orchestra is now conducted by Dr. Aly Osman.
The Orchestra is composed of blind girls with different levels of music education. The girls learn to play their musical parts separately and they train twice a week as an orchestra.


This Orchestra is unique in the world as it is the only Orchestra entirely composed of blind persons who play western classical music as well as oriental music. It has performed for a wide variety of audiences. The Al Nour Wal Amal Orchestra is a chamber orchestra with all four sections: strings, woodwind, brass and percussion.

The Orchestra started travelling abroad in 1988 and has, to date, traveled 23 times to 5 continents and performed very successfully in 18 countries: three times in Greece, twice in Austria, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and France, and once in Jordan, Kuwait, England, Sweden, Spain, Morocco, Japan, Thailand, Canada, Australia, Switzerland and India. The Orchestra has been received in all countries with enthusiasm and affection and achieved outstanding success, recognition and standing ovations.

Hossam Hassan
Born in Cairo, the 32-year-old Hossam Hassan is well known for his complex and unique graphical artwork. His impressive and colorful cycle about the Egyptian revolution will be exhibited along with the tour of “Light & Hope”.

1 comment to The Light and Hope Orchestra Around The World

  • germaniajim

    very, very nice, Kawthar, Its a pleasure to see you capture these lovely moments on camera, as well as the harsh realities of Palestine,that you do so well.

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