Vahdat Hall

Vahdat Hall
The Vahdat Hall (– Tālār e Vahdat means "Unity Hall"), formerly the Roudaki Hall (– Tālār-e Rudaki), is a performing arts complex in Tehran, Iran.
History
Around the 1950s and 1970s, the Iranian national stage had become the most famous performing scene for known international artists and troupes in West Asia, with the Vahdat Hall constructed in the capital of the country to function as the national stage for opera and ballet performances.
Construction
The complex was designed by architect Eugene Aftandilian, influenced by the Vienna State Opera, and was constructed during a period of ten years starting in 1957. It was equipped with the latest lighting and sound system technologies of the time, with revolving and moving stages. The main stage consists of three different levels (podiums). The auditorium seats 1200 and has two tiers of boxes and balconies. The venue was fully supplied by Siemens Electrics. The main curtain in proscenium has a motif of a phoenix rising from the ashes, with the style of Persian miniature.
Just before the completion of Tehran's new opera house, Nejad Ahmadzadeh, artistic director of the Iranian National Ballet Company, was sent by the Ministry of Culture and Arts to the United States to visit their opera houses and study administrative, organizational, and technical constructions of American opera establishments that were deemed to be the most modern in the West. At his return, he was appointed as manager of the upcoming opera house, and established the technical, administrative, and artistic sections of the Vahdat Hall. The constructions of the hall were eventually completed in 1967.
Inauguration
As part of the Shah's White Revolution, the Vahdat Hall of Tehran was constructed to function as the national stage for music, opera, and ballet, and was inaugurated by former king Mohammad Reza Pahlavi on October 26, 1967, with the performance of The Rustic Festival, the first Persian opera, composed by Ahmad Pejman. Two weeks of full house performances by international ensembles marked the coronation festivities. Numerous orchestras, opera singers, and dance companies were invited to perform for the occasion.
The hall is home to the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, Tehran Opera Orchestra, and the Iranian National Ballet Company. Other troupes, ensembles, and artists, such as the Iranian folk dancers, also used the stage of the Vahdat Hall for their presentations.
Productions and guest presentations
Before the 1979 Revolution
Ballet
Bijan and Manijeh (1975)
La Bayadère (Season 1972–73)
Myth of the Creation (1971)
Nutcracker (1971)
Bolero
The Firebird (1967)
Carmina Burana
The Witch Boy
The Fountain of Bakhchisarai (Season 73–74)
Swan Lake (Season 1971–72)
Petroushka
Les Sylphides
Giselle (Season 1970–71)
La Fille Mal Gardée
Romeo and Juliet (1968)
Scheherazade
Coppélia (Season 1972–72)
Miss Julie
Cinderella (1969)
Serenade
The Sleeping Beauty (1978)
Opera
The Rustic Festival 1967
Hero of Sahand (Delavareh Sahand)1968
Pardis and Parisa
La traviata
Orfeo ed Euridice
Madama Butterfly
Turandot (1971)
La bohème
Carmen
Nabucco (1976)
Falstaff (1977)
Werther (1977)
Die Zauberflöte (1978)
Various national and international festivals were organized at the Roudaki Hall, including:
International Film Festival
Ballet and Dance Festival
Folk Dance Festival
Annual Festival of Culture and Arts
Since the inauguration of the Roudaki Hall in 1967 until the last stagings in the fall season of 1978, world famous music, opera, and dance artists visited Iran to stage their works. Presentations of the guest artists and ensembles included:
Guest ballet companies
Kirov Ballet (Mariinsky Ballet)
The Igor Moiseyev Ballet
Le Grand Ballet Classique de France
Antonio Gades Flamenco Ensemble
Stuttgart Ballet
Berliner Ballett
Le Ballet de XXe Siécle (Ballet of the 20th Century)
Nederlands Dans Theater (1977)
Guest ballet artists (dancers / choreographers)
Rudolf Nureyev
Margot Fonteyn
Robert de Warren
Liane Daydé
William Dollar
John Cranko
Marcia Haydée
Richard Cragun
Robert Urazgildiev
Maurice Béjart
Alvin Ailey
Jiri Kylian
Guest opera singers
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Giuseppe Taddei
Cesare Siepi
Leo Goeke
Delme Bryn-Jones
Ingrid Rezai
Anayatolla Rezai
Monier Vaquilli
Guest music ensembles
Moscow Symphony Orchestra
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
Berliner Philharmoniker
Stuttgarter Kammerorchester
Guest musicians / conductors
Herbert von Karajan
Aram Khachaturian
Yehudi Menuhin
Sir Charles Groves
Zubin Mehta
Ruggiero Ricci
Henryk Szeryng
Claudio Arrau
Arthur Rubinstein
John Ogdon
Other presentations
Marcel Marceau, the pantomime artist (1978)
After the 1979 Revolution
Roudaki Hall has remained the most important venue of Tehran. Concerts of traditional Iranian music, pop, and classical symphonic and orchestral music are staged regularly. After 1979 Revolution, Poetry Council at Office of Poetry and Music of Ministry of culture was formed in Rudaki Hall to preserve music in Iran. Some famous poets worked there, like: Mehrdad Avesta, Ahmad NikTalab (after him, Babak Niktalab), Mohammad Ali Bahmani, Moshfegh Kashani.
Among the presentations after the 1979 Revolution are:
Concerts
Vasl-e-Yar Ensemble
Choir of Gorgin Mousissian
Tehran Symphony Orchestra
Nour Ensemble
Bob Belden's ANIMATION
Artists
Loris Tjeknavorian
Mohammad Reza Shajarian
Hossein Alizadeh
Bardia Sadrenoori
Ahmad Pejman
Parvaz Homay
Peyman Yazdanian
Alireza Ghorbani
Homayoun Shajarian
Kayhan Kalhor
Mohammad Reza Shajarian
Milad Derakhshani
Alireza Eftekhari
Events
International Fajr Film Festival
International Fajr Theater Festival
Tehran Art Expo.
Guest presentation
Dundee Repertory Theater
Specifications
Total capacity of the hall is about 750 seats; with 500 seats in the main hall, and 250 seats in the balconies.
Stage Dimensions
Proscenium opening: 12m
Stage depth: 35m
From hall's end to the proscenium opening: 23.75m
Stage height: 28m
Deck height: 85 cm
Proscenium opening height: 7m
Forestage: 2.70m
Operational and artistic directors
General directors
Hamed Rowhani (1967–?)
Sadi Hassani (in between the other two)
Abedin Zanganeh (?–1979)
? (1979–?) (after the 1979 Revolution and before the re-organization of the hall in 2003)
Following a legislation from the Parliament of Iran in 2003, the operation management of the hall was reorganized. A new non-governmental public foundation was established in order to be in charge of the Roudaki Hall. The CEOs of Roudaki Foundation, responsible for the operation of Roudaki Hall have been:
Mehdi Massoudshahi (2003–2008)
Ali Asghar Amirnia (2008–2010)
Hossein Parsaee (2010–2011)
Alireza Hosseini (2011–2013)
Hossein Seyfi (2013–2014)
Bahram Jamali (2014–2016)
Ali Akbar Safipour (2016–2019)
Mehdi Afzali (2019–2022)
Majid Zeinolabedin (2022–2023)
Mehdi Salem (2023–present)
Ballet directors
Nejad Ahmadzadeh (1967–1976)
The Iranian National Ballet Company was founded in 1958 and moved to the Roudaki Hall in 1967.
Ali Pourfarrokh (1976–1979) held the position until disbanding of the Iranian National Ballet.
Opera directors
Enayat Rezai (1967–1979)
http://www.operanostalgia.be/html/ROUDAKIHALL2016.html
Music directors
Farhad Meshkat
Alexander Rahbari (2015–2016)
Shahrdad Rouhani (2016–2020)
Nassir Heidarian-Rasty (2022–present)
Gallery
References
Citations
Bibliography
Fajr Theater Festival
Kiann, Nima. (2000). Persian Dance and Its Forgotten History
Kiann, Nima (2015). The History of Ballet in Iran. Wiesbaden: Reichert Publishing
External links
Official Website of Roudaki Foundation
Les Ballets Persans, the recreation of the Iranian National Ballet Company
The chronology of the Iranian National Ballet Company and Les Ballets Persans
Operanostalgia Enayat Rezai
Theatres in Iran
Opera houses in Iran
Music venues completed in 1967
Buildings and structures in Tehran
Culture in Tehran
Tourist attractions in Tehran