ژورنال سایت خبری سیاسی ژورنال
English Journal is published on Fridays
PDF-English Journal-15 November 2025-No38
For the first time in the history of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, its baton has been handed to a woman. Paniz Faryousafi, a musician and conductor, is appearing as guest conductor for the ensemble’s latest programme, ‘Land of Simorgh’, on 11 and 12 November at Vahdat Hall.
This is not merely an artistic event; it is a symbol of a profound transformation at the heart of Iranian society – a transformation rooted in the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. This movement has not only reshaped the country’s political discourse, but has led to a redefinition of women’s role in public and cultural life.
At a time when the formal structures of power continue to insist on misogynistic policies and social control – including the announced deployment of tens of thousands of so-called “enforcers of virtue” to confront unveiled women – Iran’s civil society has chosen a different path. The selection of Paniz Faryousafi as conductor of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra is the embodiment of this path: society’s cultural response to political authority.
Today’s Iran is undergoing a process of social, cultural and political shedding of skin. A society born out of repression and discrimination is now rebuilding itself on foundations such as freedom, equality and human dignity. These transformations do not appear in the regime’s official statements, laws and policies, but in people’s everyday choices, in cultural behaviour and in events like this.
On the surface, Paniz Faryousafi’s leadership of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra is an individual success, but in substance it is a symbol of shifting balances of social power. It shows that, despite systematic repression, Iranian society is moving towards a new order based on human and libertarian values. It is the power of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement that has forced the Islamic regime to accept a woman as conductor of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra.
This concert is a new voice from contemporary Iran: a voice that has risen out of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement and now resonates in the form of art, culture and the collective will of women and men who yearn for freedom.
Editor: Patty Debonitas
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