Dr. Ahmad Sarmast will appear on the The Gould Standard podcast in conversation with the Glenn Gould Foundation CEO Brian Levine.
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Since its founding in 2010, the Afghanistan National Institute of Music has provided unique music training to Afghan children
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In Afghanistan, music is being silenced—not by the gentle passing of time, but by deliberate destruction.
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The Afghan Youth Orchestra was featured on the Today Show and NBC Nightly News this week.
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Braga, Portugal – The Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) strongly condemns the Taliban's recent destruction of more than 21,000 musical instruments in Afghanistan, which represents an unprecedented attack on the country’s rich cultural heritage and the rights of Afghan citizens to express themselves through music.
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Founder of the Afghan Youth Orchestra Dr. Ahmad Sarmast and members of the ensemble Zohra Ahmadi and Ali Sina Hotak tell CNN’s Bianna Golodryga about preserving Afghanistan's cultural legacy while it's being threatened back at home.
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ANIM is featured in The New York Times profile of Carnegie Hall’s World Orchestra Week, which included more than 700 student musicians from 38 countries.
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Ahead of their return to the US, and performances at Carnegie Hall (August 7) and the Kennedy Center (August 8), ANIM was featured on MSNBC and NPR’s All Things Considered.
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“The Last Song from Kabul,” produced by Paramount Pictures, tells the story of The Afghanistan National Institute of Music and the journey from Kabul to Portugal as the school fled Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power.
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The Afghan National Institute of Music’s story was shared in The Guardian ahead of the Afghan Youth Orchestra’s return to the United States in early August.
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This summer, the Afghan Youth Orchestra (AYO) returns to the States for the first time since its historic U.S. debut in 2013.
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Afghan Youth Orchestra is denied Visa entry to perform in the UK
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ANIM’s Azada Ensemble performs at the Førde Festivalen World Music Festival in Norway
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AYO performed at the opening ceremony of the UN Human Rights Council, Victoria Hall, Geneva.
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On March 5, superstar violinist Midori and her colleague Clara Kim, traveled to Braga, Portugal, to visit faculty and students at Afghanistan National Institute of Music.
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Today, the students and faculty of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music recognize 2023 International Women’s Day with the release of a new film capturing their choral and orchestral performance of “A Woman’s Battle Cry (Shoulder to Shoulder).”
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Dr. Ahmad Sarmast was honored by the International Music Council with the title of "Five Music Rights Champion."
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Dr. Sarmast joins director of PEN America's Artists at Risk Connection, Julie Trebault, and music ethnologist Mirwaiss Sidiqi to discuss the music community’s role in cross-border solidarity and emergency and relocation measures, as well as the innovative ways to preserve Afghanistan’s rich cultural heritage.
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The Gala marks the return of ANIM in full force to the concert stage, after its members were forced to flee from Taliban repression in the fall of 2021 to continue their unique co-educational musical training on Afghan and western music.
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ANIM students and staff attended the World Justice Forum 2022 joining participants from 116 countries, committed to Building More Just Communities in The Hague.
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