How can music help people communicate, understand and respect one another in a globalizing world will be the main theme of the symposium held at UNESCO on 26 November.

The symposium will bring together ethnomusicologists, ethnologists, historians, musicologists, authors, musicians, composers, lawyers, as well as representatives of academia, governments, non governmental and international organizations, and the private sector from all parts of the world.

It will be structured around three sessions.

- The first session, “The dynamics of music and cultural expressions”, will examine inter alia the role that traditional communities themselves could play in the safekeeping of their music and the promotion of cultural diversity;

- the second, “Impact of globalization (and commerce) on music as an intangible heritage”, will debate on how, in a globalizing world, musical expressions could be protected but can also be promoted;

- the third entitled “How does music further communication?” will raise such questions as whether music, which forms part of cultural identities, can improve their understanding of these very identities?

Françoise Rivière, Assistant Director-General for Culture, Mehri Madarshahi, President of the Melody for Dialogue among Civilizations Association (MDACA) and American composer Anthony Paul de Ritis, Northeastern University (Boston) will open the symposium (9:30 a.m., UNESCO Headquarters, Room X).

A concert “Rossini, but not only” with a new interpretation of “L’Italiana in Algeri” by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Prague and the Melody Traditional Ensemble will follow the symposium at 8 p.m. (Room I). Organized by the MDACA which promotes multicultural dialogue and musical interaction to foster tolerance, mutual understanding and respect for cultural diversity, it will also feature classical and jazz musicians including Serguei Markarov, UNESCO Artist for Peace and Anthony Paul de Ritis.