Solhi Al-Wadi

Solhi Al-Wadi was born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1934 to an Iraqi father and a Jordanian mother. His father was away from home regularly, so soon after Solhi was born, the family relocated to Damascus, Syria.

Al-Wadi didn’t show much interest in music early on, except for an admiration for the famous Egyptian singer Mohammed Abdul-Wahab, but began when he was sent to boarding school at Victoria College in Alexandria, Egypt.

There, Solhi discovered Western classical music. VC was an English school with an English-based curriculum. There was, therefore, high exposure to Western art and music, with regular live performances of short vocal and instrumental works which Solhi attended with meticulous regularity and increasing enthusiasm, even attending rehearsals. He also started composing incidental music for the plays performed, including Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”. Alexandria was also a magnet for performing artists from all over the world. There, Solhi heard Casals, Kempff, Toscanini and Furtwaengler amongst many other famous musicians.

His next step was to learn to play an instrument, so Solhi enrolled at Alexandria Music Conservatory to study violin and composition. From then on music was to be his life. He was 13.

In 1953 Solhi graduated from school and was sent to London by his father to study agriculture. The family owned large farmlands in Iraq and needed somebody with appropriate qualifications to manage them. Having dutifully registered at Wye College, the best agricultural college he could find, he then enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music. His studies at Wye College were short-lived.

In 1960, Solhi returned to Damascus and started work on establishing classical music as part of the fine arts scene in Syria. In 1962 he founded and was appointed dean of the Arab Institute of Music.

Solhi struggled hard in the early years of the formation and evolution of the Institute. He constantly came up against doubters and detractors, traditionalists and suspicious individuals who did not believe there was a place for classical music in Syria. However, a new class of enthusiasts was born along with a new generation of performers and artists.

In 1990 Al-Wadi’s steady efforts saw the opening of the High Istitute for Music, and he was appointed its dean. He brought in specialists in all disciplines, mostly from the former Soviet Union. Soon he had enough competent performers, students and staff, to launch his life’s dream, a symphony orchestra, and in 1992 the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra was born and staged its first concert under the baton of Solhi Al-Wadi.

It wasn’t long before invitations started coming in for the SNSO to perform in countries abroad, and over the next few years they would play in Spain, Lebanon, Egypt, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Tunisia, Turkey, Germany, the UK and the USA to enthusiastic reviews. Al-Wadi also received many invitations to conduct orchestras in other countries.

His work was also being recognized at home. In 1995, Solhi conducted the first-ever performance of an Opera in Syria, Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas”, which was performed at magnificent venues such as the ancient Roman amphitheatre at Bosra, and the ruins of Palmyra, in front of capacity crowds, some with standing room only.

Following one of these performances, the late President Hafedh Al-Assad honoured Solhi with the Order of Merit, Syria’s highest civilian award, in its highest classification. The Armenian Komitas State Conservatory and the Russian Academy of Arts and Sciences awarded him honorary doctorates in 1999 and 2000 respectively. In May 2001 His Holiness Pope John-Paul II visited Syria as part of his Millennium tour, and honoured Solhi with the Medal of Sts. Peter and Paul.

On 27th April 2002 Solhi Al-Wadi was struck with a brain haemorrhage while conducting the SNSO. He never recovered from it, and died on 30th September 2007.

He left a legacy he could be proud of.