Syrian opera singer to sing in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

Noma Omran will perform at Babylon as part of the !f Film Festival.

Syrian opera singer Noma Omran will take the stage at Istanbul’s Babylon concert hall tonight.

The event is a sideline project of !f Istanbul Film Festival as Omran’s music also features in one of the movies that will be screened at the festival this year, “Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait,” a documentary about the country’s civil war. The film was selected for Cannes and won the Grierson Awards at the London Film Festival in 2014.

“The audience will travel on a journey of discovery through the wealth of Syrian culture accompanied by Omran’s magical voice,” said the organizers.

Also accompanied by photographs and poetry, Syrians living in Turkey will tell their stories during the performance.

Omran has been specialized in ancient oriental maqams including Aramaic and Syriac. She became the first woman in the world hosted at the Daitoku-Ji Temple in Japan to revive the sacred ritual of Zen with Stomu Yamashta.

She also played the role of Violetta in Verdi’s Opera “La Traviata” in the national Theatre of Brno-Czech Republic. She wrote the music for the play “Gilgamesh” directed by Ariane Mnouchkine for the Theatre du Soleil.