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NOOR AL QASSIM Pianist

EARLY LIFE

Noor Al Qassim was born in Manama; the capital city of the Kingdom of Bahrain, to a family of Doctors and medical surgeons. The family followed a tradition of graduating from the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland, and passes the tradition to its next generations. However, Ms. Al Qassim was the youngest in the family who broke the tradition in order to take up a career in Music and specifically; the piano.

Al Qassim started playing the piano in 1989, and received her first piano lessons under the guidance Prof. Rumyana Ganova (Bulgaria) who was the most influential person to Noor's passion for the piano and especially the music of Frederic Chopin. At a later stage, she received a scholarship from the Ministry of Culture of Bahrain to continue her education under the guidance of Dr. Meglena Apostolova (Bulgaria).

In 2005, Ms. Al Qassim graduated from the Canadian University College of Bahrain (UCB) which was affiliated with Mc. Masters University in Toronto. As a scholarship student she obtained a double Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, Major: Management, with a minor: in Business Law. Upon graduation, she worked as a legal consultant for leading consulting firms like Ernst & Young, Delloit and KPMG.

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EDUCATION IN EUROPE

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She was accepted at the Ecole Normale de Paris in France, as well as the Royal conservatory of Brussels in Belgium, however chose to study at the Vienna conservatory of music and dramatic arts in Austria under the guidance of Professor Ralph Heiber (Germany) and Professor Sumi Cho (South Korea) and was accepted among a few number of students after passing strict entry screening examinations.

Between 2012 and 2013 Al Qassim was awarded a one year study opportunity in the Slovakian Republic where she did aesthetics and philosophy of Arts, beside her major in piano, under the guidance of Prof. Veronika Lovranova Lakova, Prof. Egon Krak, Prof. Zuzanne Martinakova and Prof. Swareck (Slovakia).

Miss Al-Qassim graduated from the conservatory of music and dramatic arts in Vienna in 2018 under the guidance of Professor Elisabeth Bollmann (Austria) and obtained her Austrian Postgraduate Artist Diplom license in piano concert performance with distinction.

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COMPETITIONS & MASTER CLASSES

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Al Qassim has been always active in participating in competitions during her childhood. In the year 2000 she won the first prize of the music competition of the Ministry of education for the high schools in Bahrain, and was selected to represent Bahrain in Amman Jordan at the Arts festival of Queen Noor Al Hussein foundation for Arts. In Amman she won a distinction prize and was honoured by Queen Noor Al Hussein herself.

She was later on selected regularly by the Ministry of Culture to take master classes with the German pianist; Isabel Hohage, and later on was invited to perform at Bahrain International Music festivals on regular basis.

In year 2010 she won the first prize of the Chopin competition in Bahrain which was organized by the Warsaw Chopin society in Poland on the celebrations of Chopin's 200th anniversary, and was invited to compete in the Gulf International Chopin competition which was held in Kuwait and was awarded distinction and a special prize of: Best performance of Ballad by F. Chopin, and another distinction prize from the Polish Ambassador to Bahrain Mr. Janusz Swedo: 'The Chopin Prize' as well as the 'Best pianist prize' from Kuwait by Professor Cezary Owercowicz. Later, she was invited by the Jurist of the competition, the polish pianist; Pawel Kowalsky to take master classes with him.

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INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENTS

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Since 1997, Ms. Al Qassim has been offered numerous performance engagements with the Ministry of Culture of Bahrain to present the Kingdom at international music festivals worldwide.

Since then she performed with the European Union Chamber Orchestra with Maestro Matthias Wollong; the Chamber Orchestra of Minsk- Belarus under the guidance of Eugene Osnovitch, Bahrain Orchestra with Maestro Khalifa Zeman; as well as Kanoon -Piano duos with Azeri kanoonist Khumar Alakbarova; and Piano duos with Lebanese pianist Wassim Kaissi. She also worked on assigned contemporary works with Japanese Maestro Misa Jonouchi.

She worked closely with the UNESCO in Paris on various cultural projects, performed annually at the UNESCO theatre in Paris, participated in Malaga piano festival in Spain in 2003, the world music day in Amsterdam in 2003, piano forum in Istanbul in 2009, Pieštany and Banská Štiavnica in Slovakia, Switzerland, world music day in Italy Florence Tuscany, Lagos Algarve in Portugal 2018, Sao Carlos national theatre in Lisbon Portugal, and performed regularly in Vienna Austria. She performed before the Director General of the IAEA Mr. Yoko Amano in 2014 on the celebrations of Oman national day in Vienna in the presence of international ambassadors and officials.

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THE MIDDLE EAST

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In the Middle East, Ms. Al Qassim was invited twice at the Asila international cultural festival in Morocco; in 2006 and 2018, and was honoured by the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and the founder of Assila Festival, H.E. Mohamed bin Eissa, H.H. Sheikh Abdulla Al Khalifa, and personal advisor to his Majesty the king of Bahrain H.E. Nabeel Al Hamar.

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THE GULF REGION

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In the Gulf region, Ms. Al Qassim performed at the ‘Bahrain cultural days’ in the Emirates (Abudhabi and Dubai) in 2004.

In 2005 she was honoured by Queen Sabeeka Al Khalifa of Bahrain through the Supreme Council of Women, and was awarded a distinction prize for her activities supporting women empowerment causes, and fundraising benefit concerts for wars and strikes as well as her concert defending artist freedom of speech defending the famous artist Marcel Khalife for his work ‘Layla & Majnoon’/ Romeo & Juliet) in 2006 in Bahrain which the Parliament of Bahrain was against, and therefore Miss Alqassim demonstrated against the rejection of the parliament through performing a concert in the presence of Marcel Khalife himself and signing her rejection to Artist freedom of speech at the UNESCO.   She was therefore listed as Bahrain’s top10 most influential women in that year.

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She also received special invitations from Her Royal Highness Queen Sabika Al Khalifa to perform at Al Safria palace at the Meeting of the Supreme Summit of Women in Bahrain, in the presence of Her Excellency Suzan Mubarak of Egypt and queen Rania of Jordan.

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In 2007, she was within the delegation of the official visit of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the Philippines, Makati, with the Prime Minister H.H. Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al KHalifa

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In 2014, Al Qassim was invited to perform at the prestigious Royal Opera House Muscat in Oman (ROHM), where she performed at the Omani women’s day and received positive critics from the Omani media, press and TV. She was honoured by the Minister of higher education of Oman; her Excellency Dr. Rawia Al Busaidia and was awarded a distinction prize.

DEFENDING ARTIST FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND MARCEL KHALIFE IN BAHRAIN

In 2006 the famous Lebanese composer Marcel Khalife was invited to perfrom his musical 'Layla and Majnoon/Romeo & Juliet' at Bahrain theatre. The performance had a dance element and was therefore criticized by the extremist religious party in the Parliament. Miss Alqassim demonstrated against the rejection of the parliament through performing a concert in the presence of Marcel Khalife himself. She was therefore listed as Bahrain’s top10 most influential women in that year.

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WORLD PRESS & MEDIA

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Ms. Al Qassim appeared in world international press and media reports such as: France Press, BBC Arabic, Monte Carlo radio, Al Ayam Bahrain, Al Bilad, Akhbar Al Khaleej, Omani press, Moroccan press, Al Rai Kuwaiti press, Austrian press and hundreds of other media and presses. She was even mentioned in books such as: ‘وجوه في مصابيح الذاكره الجزء الخامس by the prominent author and writer ‘Ishaq Al Shaikh Yaqoub’,

as well as Fatima Al Mubarak’s book:

عندما التقيت بالنجوم

PROJECTS

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During the past few years, Ms. Al Qassim has been creating special projects under the motto "Sound and Motion" and works efficiently on choreographing piano music for ballet and modern dancers. She also works regularly with Tango dancers and choreographers, having completed a thorough dance diplom programme by Peruvian choreographer Alberto Rosas- Rondinelli, and Austrian ballerina Brigitte Rosas-Rondinelli.

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PERSONAL INTERESTS

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Ms. Al Qassim has a lot of passion for English literature and especially the plays of William Shakespeare. She also has interest in critical and creative writing in newspapers and forums as well as working as a cultural activist. She enjoys painting as a hobby and Tango. ​Currently Ms. Al Qassim is doing her second Master’s degree at the University of Burgenland, in European law and project management. She also manages her company ‘Belcanto’ for Artist management and culture exchange projects, as she holds a permanent residence in Austria.

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ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

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It is worth mentioning that Ms. Al Qassim also worked at international organizations such as the United Nations where she worked as a consultant for UNIDO, the UNESCO and the CTBTO and was nominated to join the GCC council in 2015. She received training at the European commission in Brussels and worked on various projects related to sustainability, agribusiness and development.

LANGUAGES

She speaks Arabic, English and German fluently and can speak intermediate French and Slovak.

CAUSES AND BELIEVES:

•Anti- discrimination; •Peace; •Children and education~ Music education; •Fund raising and benefit concerts for crisis and wars;   •Women empowerment and women rights.

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REFERENCES:

1.وجوه في مصابيح الذاكره الجزء الخامس, اسحاق الشيخ يعقوب

https://books.google.at/books?id=PMAlCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT151&lpg=PT151&dq=%D9%86%D9%88%D8%B1+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85+%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88&source=bl&ots=GxkbsfM0VQ&sig=ACfU3U3X93lkug0F82o345T_mHSfk8Iw-w&hl=de&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjynr68ipvjAhWSsJ4KHUdLDC8Q6AEwCnoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=%D9%86%D9%88%D8%B1%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85%20%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88&f=false

1.عندما التقيت النجومظ فاطمه المبارك

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