Don’t let the music stop: Lebanon’s Philharmonic Orchestra’s fight to survive

Since its establishment, the LPO has performed at all major Lebanese festivals. (LPO)
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Updated 08 July 2021
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Don’t let the music stop: Lebanon’s Philharmonic Orchestra’s fight to survive

  • At its peak, the orchestra had some 100 members, both Lebanese and foreigners
  • As the crisis accelerates, several musicians have decided to seek pastures new, leaving behind an orchestra that has won accolades for its artistry

DUBAI: It’s hard, almost unimaginable, to find a Lebanese state or private institution not reeling under the burden of the country’s severe economic and financial collapse.

The Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, the only one of its kind in the small Mediterranean nation, is no different.

Founded in 1998 by the former President of the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music Walid Gholmieh, the orchestra has found itself weaving through a crisis that the World Bank has said will possibly rank among the world’s three worst since the mid-nineteenth century.

The arts organization is one of Lebanon’s only state-sponsored cultural institutions with the ministry of culture paying the salaries of its members, while local and international donors contribute for anything from music stands to the purchase of instruments.

Its expenditures are part of the Ministry of Culture’s budget which has continued to drop over the years.

The ministry’s budget was slashed to LL44 billion in 2021, down from LL48 billion in 2018. At the current market rate, that’s around $2.5 million.

Over a 21-month period, Lebanon’s currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value, pushing more than 60 percent of the population below the poverty line as food insecurity soars and businesses shut down.

“Our biggest problem currently is financial and the struggle to retain our foreign musicians,” Lubnan Baalbaki, the permanent conductor of the orchestra, told Arab News.

Baalbaki, who hails from a family of artists, has been the chief conductor of the orchestra since 2012.

His father is a painter while his siblings have also left their mark on the world of music and art.




Baalbaki studied the violin at the National Conservatory, followed by musicology studies at USEK University. Later in Europe, he specialized in conducting. (Prestige)

Now, however, he along with the other musicians that he leads, are facing an uphill battle.

“Their salaries, which are similar to local musicians, range now between $150 and $200,” Baalbaki, who earned a Ph.D. in the ‘psychology of conducting’, said.

When first conceived, the orchestra was just composed of Lebanese, making it a chamber orchestra that was comprised of around 50 musicians. In order to fulfill his aspirations of turning it into a philharmonic orchestra, Gholmieh had to expand his horizons and attract foreign musicians skilled enough to play uncommon instruments like the trombone and double bass.

“These instruments, such as the French horn, are only played by foreigners because we simply don’t have them in Lebanon,” he said.

At its peak, the orchestra had some 100 members, with foreigners sometimes outnumbering local musicians. Now, the orchestra is comprised of some 70 members, split equally between foreign nationals and locals.

“Unfortunately, foreign musicians are barred from working other jobs according to the employment law, unlike their Lebanese counterparts,” Baalbaki said.

Despite the financial distress, Lebanese musicians can play at private events, both locally and abroad, to secure additional sources of revenues, he explained.

As the crisis accelerates, several musicians have decided to seek pastures new, leaving behind an orchestra that has won accolades for its artistry, hosted countless international guest conductors and morphed into a national symbol of unison.

“We still have at least one musician for almost every instrument, but the ensemble has been thinned out,” the young maestro told Arab News.

The classically trained violin and lute player has also expressed concern about his musicians taking up other offers or abandoning the industry completely.

“Like school teachers, our musicians go on their summer break now and there’s a big concern that some of them will simply not report back,” Baalbaki said. 

If that’s the case, the ensemble will find itself in a severe predicament, Walid Mousallem, the interim director of the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music, told Arab News.

“Their monthly wages are barely enough to pay the rent of their homes,” Mousallem said, highlighting the importance of retaining European musicians in order to preserve the musical diversity of the ensemble.

“At the end of the day, a local musician can fall back on his family’s support, something that a foreigner cannot do,” Baalbaki added.

Before the first signs of the economic crisis began showing in late 2019, Lebanon was considered a cultural and financial hub that was able to draw skilled foreigners with higher salaries, housing and transportation benefits compared to their home countries.

But after coming for the money, they stayed for the country’s charm.




In terms of the musicians comprising the orchestra, sectarian quotas, for once, do not apply, Baalbaki said. (LPO)
 

“A lot of them have a strong affinity for this country after being here for many years,” Baalbaki said.

Now, however, like many of the country’s disappointed youth, they are faced with the prospect of leaving Lebanon in search of a decent living.

“Without financial support, it’s hard to imagine that some of them won’t leave despite their love for Lebanon,” Mousallem said.

Prior to Lebanon’s house of cards tumbling down in the immediate aftermath of mass protests that kicked off in late 2019, the orchestra was a staple of Lebanon’s once vibrant music scene.

Throughout any given season, which ran from September until July, the orchestra would play between 30 and 33 concerts that were mostly free to the public, Mousallem said.

These included breathtaking performances in the renowned Roman temples of the Bekaa in Baalbeck and in a 200-year-old Palace in Beiteddine, Chouf, among countless others.

But nationwide social unrest because of a broken banking system that wiped out life savings, rising food insecurity and soaring inflation made it almost impossible to arrange performances.

The COVID-19 pandemic also forced concert halls to remain closed.

“Since September 2019 we’ve held around 10 or 11 concerts, including two this past June,” Mousallem said.

To make matters worse, the National Higher Conservatory of Music - which oversees the orchestra - has been without a permanent director since its former chief Bassam Saba died after contracting COVID-19 in December 2020.

In line with Lebanon’s power-sharing system, which distributes state positions among certain religious communities, the director of the conservatory must be a Christian Orthodox.

Almost seven months after Saba’s death, a new director has yet to be appointed as politicians wrangle over the top job.

“I’m not a Christian Orthodox so I can’t be the permanent director,” Mousallem said.

“Music is the last place where sectarianism should be involved,” Baalbaki added, noting the scarcity of qualified individuals that can take on this monumental role.

“We don’t have the luxury of picking from a pool of thousands of musicians from every sect. Lebanese musicians are already scarce,” he said, calling on policymakers to stop interfering in the affairs of the conservatory.

Without a permanent director, key decisions to safeguard the orchestra cannot be taken, according to Baalbaki.

Despite these almost insuperable obstacles and nonexistent governmental support, both men remain hopeful in benefactors recognizing their plight.

“We’re under threat yet fighting tooth and nail to safeguard the orchestra and the conservatory, as losing them would be a tremendous loss to Lebanon and its culture,” Mousallem, who has been serving in an interim capacity, said. 

The conservatory is currently in talks with the European Union and foreign ambassadors in a bid to shore up financial support, the scholar, who holds a Ph.D. in political philosophy, said.

“Can you imagine that a country like Lebanon doesn’t have one single national theatre?” Baalbaki finally pointed out in disbelief.


Australian man dies from bat bite

Updated 03 July 2025
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Australian man dies from bat bite

  • The virus has been found in species of flying foxes and insect-eating microbats
  • The victim’s condition rapidly deteriorates, leading to paralysis, delirium, convulsions and death

Sydney: An Australian man has died from an “extremely rare” rabies-like infection transmitted by a bat bite, health officials said Thursday.

The man in his 50s was bitten by a bat carrying Australian bat lyssavirus several months ago, the health service in New South Wales said.

“We express our sincere condolences to the man’s family and friends for their tragic loss,” NSW Health said in a statement.

“While it is extremely rare to see a case of Australian bat lyssavirus, there is no effective treatment for it.”

The man from northern New South Wales, who has not been identified, was this week listed as being in a “critical condition” in hospital.

The virus — a close relative to rabies, which does not exist in Australia — is transmitted when bat saliva enters the human body through a bite or scratch.

First symptoms can take days or years to appear.

Early signs of the disease are flu-like — a headache, fever and fatigue, the health service said.

The victim’s condition rapidly deteriorates, leading to paralysis, delirium, convulsions and death.

There were only three previous cases of human infection by Australian bat lyssavirus since it was first identified in 1996 — all of them fatal.

People should avoid touching or handling bats, as any bat in Australia could carry lyssavirus, the New South Wales health service said.

“If you or someone you know is bitten or scratched by a bat, you need to wash the wound thoroughly for 15 minutes right away with soap and water and apply an antiseptic with anti-virus action,” it said.

“Patients then require treatment with rabies immunoglobulin and rabies vaccine.”

The virus has been found in species of flying foxes and insect-eating microbats, NSW Health said.

The type of bat involved in the latest fatality has not been identified.


Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs acquitted of most serious charges, convicted of prostitution-related offenses

Updated 02 July 2025
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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs acquitted of most serious charges, convicted of prostitution-related offenses

NEW YORK: Sean “Diddy” Combs dropped to his knees and prayed in the courtroom after he was acquitted Wednesday of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put one of hip-hop’s celebrated figures behind bars for life. The rapper was convicted of lesser prostitution-related offenses and still faces prison time but is seeking to be freed from jail to await sentencing.
The mixed result capped a sordid legal odyssey that shattered Combs’ affable “Puff Daddy” image and derailed his career as a Grammy-winning artist and music executive, fashion entrepreneur, brand ambassador and reality TV star.
As the jury foreman spoke and the “not guilty” verdicts piled up, Combs pumped his fist. Each juror affirmed agreement with the verdict as Combs looked toward them, holding his hands up in a prayer motion. Then he hugged defense lawyer Teny Geragos. Combs’ relatives and supporters in the audience could barely contain their relief, despite the judge’s admonition to avoid outbursts: When the first “not guilty” was read aloud, someone shouted, “Yeah!”
Combs, 55, later continued to pump his right fist subtly and nodded, seemingly satisfied that he was acquitted on the most serious charges.
Combs was convicted of flying people around the country, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, to engage in sexual encounters, a felony violation of the federal Mann Act.
The charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, but Combs’ lawyers said that under federal sentencing guidelines he’d likely face about two years in prison. Prosecutors, citing Combs’ violence and other factors, said the guidelines would call for at least four to five years. Jailed since his September arrest, he’s already served nine months behind bars.
In a triumph for Combs, the jury of eight men and four women acquitted him of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges related to allegations that he used his money, power and frightening physical force to manipulate his girlfriends into hundreds of drug-fueled sex marathons with the men.
Combs’ defense team argued that the women were willing participants and that none of his violence justified the severity of the charges.
Marc Agnifilo, a lawyer for Combs, asked that his client be immediately released because the federal Mann Act crimes were of a “vastly different nature” than sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
Assistant US Attorney Maurene Comey said he should remain incarcerated as a danger to the community and a threat to flee. She cited evidence of physical abuse and “prolific use and distribution of drugs” that emerged during the trial.
“I do believe we’ll be seeking a substantial period of incarceration,” Comey said.
Both sides filed written submissions expanding on their arguments. Judge Arun Subramanian was expected to rule at 5 p.m. on whether to release Combs on bail.
Combs appeared overwhelmed as court adjourned for a few hours. He wiped his face, turning and kneeling at his chair, his head bowed in prayer.
“I’ll be home soon,” he said as he faced his relatives.
“I love you, Mom,” he added.
His relatives applauded him and his lawyers, some of whom had tears in their eyes, as he was led out of court.
There’s no date yet for sentencing, when the judge will decide on Combs’ punishment for the prostitution conviction.
Verdict follows weeks of harrowing testimony
Federal officials involved in the case responded to the outcome by noting that sex crimes “are all too present in many aspects of our society.”
“New Yorkers and all Americans want this scourge stopped and perpetrators brought to justice,” Manhattan-based US Attorney Jay Clayton and Ricky J. Patel, who heads federal Homeland Security Investigations’ New York office, said in a statement.
Jurors deliberated for about 13 hours over three days before announcing their verdict. It came after they said late Tuesday that they had decided on four counts but were stuck on the racketeering one. At that point, the judge told them to keep deliberating and keep the partial verdict under wraps.
Combs did not testify at his trial, which featured 34 witnesses as well as video of the rapper attacking his former girlfriend Cassie, the R&B singer born Casandra Ventura.
Her lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, said in a statement after the verdict that “by coming forward with her experience, Cassie has left an indelible mark on both the entertainment industry and the fight for justice.”
Later, he asked the judge in a letter to deny Combs bail, saying “Ms. Ventura believes that Mr. Combs is likely to pose a danger to the victims who testified in this case, including herself, as well as to the community.”
Cassie testified for four days about her turbulent 11-year relationship with Combs, which began after she signed with his Bad Boy record label.
Cassie said Combs became obsessed with voyeuristic encounters, arranged with the help of his staff, that involved sex workers and copious amounts of baby oil. During the sex events, called “freak-offs” or “hotel nights,” Combs would order Cassie to do things with other men that she found humiliating, she testified.
When things didn’t go Combs’ way, he would beat her, she said.
“I’m not a rag doll. I’m somebody’s child,” Cassie told Combs after he dragged her down a hotel hallway in 2016.
Another ex-girlfriend, testifying under the pseudonym “Jane,” told the jury she repeatedly told Combs she didn’t want to have sex with the men hired for their trysts.
“I’m not an animal. I need a break,” she told him. Nevertheless, she said she felt “obligated” to comply with his demands, in part because he paid her rent.
The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie has.
Defense calls case an invasion of privacy
The trial’s most famous witness, rapper Kid Cudi, said Combs broke into his home in late 2011 after learning he and Cassie were dating. After his car was firebombed a few weeks later, Cudi — whose real name is Scott Mescudi — said he knew Combs “had something to do” with it. Combs denied it.
Combs’ defense team acknowledged that he could be violent but argued that prosecutors were intruding in his personal life. In his closing remarks to the jury, Agnifilo said it wasn’t illegal for Combs to make “homemade porn” with his girlfriends.
Rapper, entrepreneur and criminal defendant
Combs was at the center of the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop battles of the 1990s and became one of the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades, diversifying his interests with the Sean John fashion label, Ciroc vodka, a cable TV channel and a film and TV studio.
In 2001, Combs was at the center of one of the biggest hip-hop trials of its era, stemming from a Manhattan nightclub shooting that injured three people in 1999. Combs was acquitted of charges that he took an illegal gun into the club and tried to bribe his driver to take the fall.
His career recovered quickly that time.
Combs’ reputation may have suffered irreparable damage, though, after Cassie sued him in November 2023, alleging years of sexual and physical abuse. He settled the next day for $20 million, but more lawsuits by other women and men followed.
Most are still pending.
 


Snake on a plane delays a flight in Australia

Updated 02 July 2025
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Snake on a plane delays a flight in Australia

MELBOURNE: An Australian domestic flight was delayed for two hours after a stowaway snake was found in the plane’s cargo hold, officials said on Wednesday.
The snake was found on Tuesday as passengers were boarding Virgin Australia Flight VA337 at Melbourne Airport bound for Brisbane, according to snake catcher Mark Pelley.
The snake turned out to be a harmless 60-centimeter (2-foot) green tree snake. But Pelly said he thought it could be venomous when he approached it in the darkened hold.
“It wasn’t until after I caught the snake that I realized that it wasn’t venomous. Until that point, it looked very dangerous to me,” Pelley said.
Most of the world’s most venomous snakes are native to Australia.
When Pelley entered the cargo hold, the snake was half hidden behind a panel and could have disappeared deeper into the plane.
Pelley said he told an aircraft engineer and airline staff that they would have to evacuate the aircraft if the snake disappeared inside the plane.
“I said to them if I don’t get this in one shot, it’s going to sneak through the panels and you’re going to have to evacuate the plane because at that stage I did not know what kind of snake it was,” Pelley said.
“But thankfully, I got it on the first try and captured it,” Pelley added. “If I didn’t get it that first time, the engineers and I would be pulling apart a (Boeing) 737 looking for a snake still right now.”
Pelley said he had taken 30 minutes to drive to the airport and was then delayed by security before he could reach the airliner.
An airline official said the flight was delayed around two hours.
Because the snake is native to the Brisbane region, Pelley suspects it came aboard inside a passenger’s luggage and escaped during the two-hour flight from Brisbane to Melbourne.
For quarantine reasons, the snake can’t be returned to the wild.
The snake, which is a protected species, has been given to a Melbourne veterinarian to find a home with a licensed snake keeper.


Most world heritage sites at risk of drought or flooding: UN

Updated 01 July 2025
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Most world heritage sites at risk of drought or flooding: UN

PARIS: Almost three quarters of the globe’s cultural and natural heritage sites are threatened by too little or too much water, the UN’s cultural agency said on Tuesday.
As a result of rising temperatures, extreme weather events including hurricanes, droughts, floods and heatwaves have become more frequent and intense, scientists warn.
Seventy-three percent of all 1,172 non-marine sites on the UNESCO Heritage List are exposed to at least one severe water risk — including water stress, drought, river flooding or coastal flooding, UNESCO said.
“Water stress is projected to intensify, most notably in regions like the Middle East and North Africa, parts of South Asia and northern China — posing long-term risks to ecosystems, cultural heritage, and the communities and tourism economies that depend on them,” it added.
Cultural sites were most commonly threatened by water scarcity, while more than half of natural sites faced the risk of flooding from a nearby river, the UNESCO study showed.
In India, the Taj Mahal monument in Agra, for example, “faces water scarcity that is increasing pollution and depleting groundwater, both of which are damaging the mausoleum,” the study said.
In the United State, “in 2022, a massive flood closed down all of Yellowstone National Park and cost over $20 million in infrastructure repairs to reopen.”
The report gave four more examples.
Iraq’s southern marshes — the reputed home of the biblical Garden of Eden — “face extremely high water stress, where over 80 percent of the renewable supply is withdrawn to meet human demand,” it added.
And competition for water is expected to increase in the marshes, where migratory birds live and inhabitants raise buffalo, as the region grows hotter in coming years.
On the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, the Victoria Falls — originally called Mosi-oa-Tunya (“the smoke that thunders“) before it was renamed by Scottish explorer David Livingstone — has faced recurring drought and is sometimes reduced to a trickle.
In Peru, the pre-Colombian city of Chan Chan and its delicate 1,000-year-old adobe walls face an extremely high risk of river flooding, UNESCO said.
In China, rising sea levels driven in large part by climate change are leading to coastal flooding, which destroys mudlands where migratory waterbirds find food, it added.
 


In Senegal, luxury sheep shine at a beauty contest and fetch a high price

Updated 01 July 2025
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In Senegal, luxury sheep shine at a beauty contest and fetch a high price

  • As each sheep is led into the open arena, a panel of judges note down their points based on distinct features like beauty, size, height, horns and body texture for each round
  • Winners are rewarded with food and cash prizes

DAKAR: The regal creatures are led into the open arena, stamping their groomed hooves as if to acknowledge the cheers, music and fireworks from the crowd of spectators. Their majestic figures embody pride and status, their towering size, prominent muzzle, curved horns and polished skin on full display as night falls.
Welcome to one of Senegal’s most anticipated beauty pageants – not for humans but for the locally bred Ladoum, the equivalent of a Ferrari among the woolly creatures.
The annual contest featured more than a dozen Ladoum, competing in three different categories as adult male, adult female and young/promising.
As each sheep is led into the open arena, a panel of judges note down their points based on distinct features like beauty, size, height, horns and body texture for each round. Winners, announced at the end, are rewarded with food and cash prizes.
This year’s Best Male Adult sheep is Prive, 1 year and 7months old, whose breeder estimated him to be worth more than $100,000 in the market.
“It feels good to be here, I cherish him so much,” Isaiah Cisse, Prive’s breeder said with a wide grin as he massaged the sheep for a successful outing.
Unlike the more common sheep eaten and used as sacrifices during Muslim celebrations, the crossbreed Ladoum are mainly seen as a living, breathing symbol of social prestige and luxury bred for years before they are sold.
Widely known as one of the world’s most expensive sheep, the older ones usually fetch a price of $70,000, compared to $250 for a regular sheep, and attract buyers from around the world to this West African nation of 18 million people, where livestock is a key source of livelihood.
Mostly weighing up to 400 pounds (181 kilograms) and up to 4 feet (1.21 meters) in height, the Ladoum are known for their physical grandeur with curling and symmetrical horns and lustrous sheen.
As the contest unfolded in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, each sheep is announced before it is led by the breeder onto an elevated stage where it is inspected by the judges, to the elation of the crowd.
Each receives joyful chants from a band troupe, featuring the local Senegalese instrumental Assiko music with the sheep’s praise names ringing out aloud.
“You can’t see a sheep like this in Africa or even in the world,” said Elhadji Ndiaye, a member of the judging panel. “Ladoum is special.”
Many agree with him.
Musa Faye, a 22-year-old breeder, said his 18-month-old sheep was named Diomaye, after Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, to show the sheep’s significance for him and his family.
“I spend a lot of time with him and play with him,” Faye said of his sheep. “I am preparing him for the next competition because I know he will win (the trophy),” he added.
The contest, which has been running for some years, took place alongside an exhibition that featured even young breeders like Ibrahim Diagne. At 12, he is anticipating bringing his Ladoum for the contest someday.
“My parents like this and have always done it, so I like it too,” Diagne said of his passion for the family’s sheep rearing business.
Such passion is common in Senegal where sheep rearing is an age-old tradition deeply woven into family life and culture.
Even animal traditions are passed down through the generations.
Maniane Ndaw’s prized sheep Alou won this year’s Best Junior Male, following in the footsteps of the sheep’s father who won several titles.
“For me, it’s a great, great pleasure,” Ndaw said. “It shows that the lineage is a good one.”