Anna Binneweg, the Music Director/Conductor of the LSO, will be sharing the conducting responsibilities with Karim Wasfi, Chief Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra in Baghdad, who is also an accomplished cellist.
Mr. Wasfi was born in Cairo, Egypt to an artistic family. He received MA and Performance Diplomas inCello Performance, Electronic Music Technology and Conducting from Indiana University School of Music, degrees in Physics and Philosophy from Cairo University and studied political science at Boston University.
He has been the Assistant Principal Cellist in the Bangor, Portland, Columbus, and Evansville orchestras, the Principal Cellist in the Iraqi National Symphony, on the faculty at the Music and Ballet School inBaghdad, and the Principal Cellist in the Cairo Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Wasfi has been running and directing the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra since 2004 under extremely difficult and dangerous circumstances. He notes that many extreme Islamists disapprove of all music, but for moderate Iraqis, the symphony symbolizes an elevated alternative to barbarism everywhere.