Qatar Music Academy receives generous support from Occidental Petroleum of Qatar Ltd

Qatar Music Academy (QMA) today held a joint press conference with Occidental Petroleum of Qatar Ltd (Oxy Qatar) in recognition of Oxy Qatar’s generous sponsorship of its music education activities within the local community. Oxy Qatar President and General Manager Steve Kelly and Qatar Music Academy Principal Dr Abdul Ghafour Al Heeti signed the sponsorship agreement. 

Oxy Qatar has donated more than 1.1 million Qatari riyals to enable QMA to expand access to music education in the local community and to further enhance the music education programmes. The funds will be used primarily to purchase more than 100 specialised Arabic and Western musical instruments; to extend the range of books, sheet music and multimedia in the QMA library; and to enable the establishment of an advanced music laboratory. 

At the press conference, Dr Al Heeti said, “QMA’s mission is to develop promising young talent from Qatar and the region to be the next generation of world-class musicians. This generous sponsorship from Oxy Qatar will go a long way to help us realise this dream, and will give even more of the local community access to the very best in Arabic and Western classical music education.” 

The highest-quality musical instruments will be purchased with the sponsorship funds, with a particular focus on niche instruments in order to provide the most comprehensive range of music education options. These instruments will include double basses, tubas, qanuns, Arabic violins and ouds. New library materials provided through the sponsorship will afford students valuable insights into the world’s major musical cultures. The new music laboratories will feature eight state-of-the-art music workstations, comprising the latest hardware, software and specialist music composition equipment. 

Mr Steve Kelly, president and general manager of Oxy Qatar, said, “Oxy Qatar is delighted to support Qatar Music Academy’s drive to deliver traditional and modern music education to young people in the local community. Music enriches people’s lives, both in participation and appreciation, and the whole community can benefit from young people gaining greater access to these facilities and instruments.” 

Qatar Music Academy, a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, was established in 2011. It offers two musical educational programmes to more than 500 local students. Its ‘Academic Music Programme’ offers 5 to 18 year olds an intensive series of one-to-one music lessons, group theory classes and ensemble practice, all conveniently scheduled after school hours. Its ‘Music for All Programme’ offers a diverse and flexible range of musical activities for the whole community. QMA is also actively involved in community outreach initiative and music research projects.