On Thursday the 24th, Friday the 25th & Saturday the 26th of February 2005, the Cultural Organizations En Chordais – Musical Traditions of the Mediterranean and the Byzantine Festival in London organize the International Voice Meeting in London (Hellenic Center 16-18 Paddington St).

The human voice is common to all musical traditions and in recent times vocal styles from all over the world have exerted an increasing influence on the music of Western Europe. This 3-day program explores the role of the voice in the music of the Eastern Mediterranean traditions: Arabic, Ottoman and Byzantine.
During the Meeting, twelve virtuoso singers will appear in three evening recitals while during master classes they will present their style, technique and repertory.

The International Voice Meeting is taking place within the framework of the MediMuses Project, whose field of action includes research, educational and artistic activities in the countries of the Mediterranean, and is part of the broader European Union supported Euromed Heritage II program.
The participants in the International Voice Meeting are:

Ahmed Ibrahim – Egypt
Ghada Shbeir – Lebanon
Halil Necipoglou – Turkey
Aicha Redouane – Morocco
Ayman Tayseer – Jordan
Sophia Papazoglou – Greece
Haig Yazdjian – Syria, representing the Armenian tradition
Melihat Gulses – Turkey
Abir Nasraoui – Tunisia
Drossos Koutsokostas – Greece
Rima Khcheich – Lebanon
Hossein Omoumi – France, representing the Persian tradition

During the Meeting there will be lectures about the human voice as a musical instrument given by researchers, musicians and musicologists: Fikret Karakaya (Turkey), Dr. Nabil Al Lao (Syria), Dr. Ayman Taysser (Jordan), Abir Nasraoui (Tunisia) and Kyriakos Kalaitzides (Greece). The meeting is also funded by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture.