Amman Chamber Orchestra (ACO), formerly known as the Etihad Chamber Orchestra, is an Amman-based orchestra with a focus on musicians from the Arab world. ACO musicians have so far come from Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Oman, Japan, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Ukraine, Romania, South Korea, Switzerland, Belorussia, Spain, Russia, Portugal, Cuba, Turkey and the United States of America.
About
Amman Chamber Orchestra (ACO), formerly known as the Etihad Chamber Orchestra, is an Amman-based orchestra with a focus on musicians from the Arab World.
ACO provides an important cultural service to Amman’s public. In a reflection of its mission, the orchestra’s concerts combine Western and Middle Eastern classical music. Alongside ACO's main annual concert season, orchestra members regularly engage with the wider community in Jordan through outreach and educational work.
The orchestra was founded in 2018 and performed two full concert seasons before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. After an inevitable pause, the orchestra resumed its activities in September 2022.
The orchestra’s concerts have so far taken place in Bank al Etihad’s Auditorium, the Royal Cultural Centre, Al Hussein Cultural Centre and the American Community School’s Arts Centre.
As ACO’s musicians live all around the world, the orchestra comes together in Amman around one week ahead of each project. ACO musicians have so far come from Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Oman, Japan, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Ukraine, Romania, South Korea, Switzerland, Belorussia, Spain, Russia, Portugal, Cuba, Turkey and the United States of America.
Affiliation with Bank al Etihad
Amman Chamber Orchestra is an initiative of Bank al Etihad Foundation.
Karim Said
Co-founder & Principal Conductor
Karim Said is a pianist, conductor, and Director of Music at Bank al Etihad Foundation.
He shares Sviatoslav Richter’s incisively effortless octave technique and knack for gradually meting out rubato in the manner of a seasoned conductor’ – Gramophone Magazine.
Hailed as a ‘born communicator’ by the Independent, Karim Said came to the public’s attention in 2009 playing concertos with the English Chamber Orchestra under the late Sir Colin Davis (Barbican Centre, London) and at the BBC Proms (Royal Albert Hall, London).
As a soloist with orchestra, he has toured regularly performing at such halls as the Philharmonie in Berlin, Musikverein in Vienna, the Great Hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, the Musashino Concert Hall in Tokyo and at the Dubai Opera House.
Karim’s album Legacy was released on Rubicon Classics (UK) in November 2018. It received 5 Stars for interpretation and repertoire on West German Radio (WDR) and was described by Nicholas Kenyon in the Guardian/Observer as a programme ‘dispatched with intelligence and grace.’ This followed the success of his debut album 'Echoes from an Empire' (Opus Arte – 2015) which was one of Gramphone’s ‘Top Ten recordings of Janacek’ in 2016. The repertoire on his first album was inspired by his London recital debut series at the Southbank Centre in 2013, where he covered Arnold Schoenberg’s complete published solo works over three recitals as part of the ‘International Piano Series’ and ‘The Rest Is Noise’ festival.
Karim Said is equally at home performing chamber music and collaborating with actors. Past events have included collaborative performances with such stage directors as the late Patrice Chereau and Vanessa Redgrave, as well as chamber music performances with Waltraud Meier, Dorothea Röschmann, Gabriel Croitoru, Adrian Brendel, and the Utrecht String Quartet.
Karim is a serious jazz enthusiast with a particular affinity for the music of Miles Davis, Chick Corea, and Thelonious Monk. Outside music, Karim is a massive Alfred Hitchcock fan.