As part of the Wellness and Mental Health Week 2026, held under the theme “The Power of Hope: Let Your Mind and Heart Bloom,” Antonine University (UA) presents The Levantine Oratorio of Divine Love and Hope, an evening of Maqām music, spiritual poetry, chant, and improvisation centered on Divine Love and hope.
Following a performance of this musical work by the Maqām Festival Ensemble at the 81st Sagra Musicale Umbra in Perugia, Italy, the Oratorio, composed by Nidaa Abou Mrad, will be performed by the Antonine University Ensemble of Classical Arabic Music, featuring almost the same musicians who performed in Perugia, at UA on October 6, bringing Christian and Islamic spiritual traditions into dialogue through the Maqām art music tradition of the Mašriq.
Divine Love Across Spiritual and Musical Traditions
At the heart of the Oratorio is love, which Saint Paul places above faith and hope in his Hymn of Love (1 Corinthians 13).
Around this spiritual vision, the program brings together Christian hymns, Qur’anic and Islamic spiritual texts, and Sufi poetry, drawing on Saint Paul, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Symeon the New Theologian, Imam Ali Zayn al-‘Ābidīn, Rābi‘a al-‘Adawiyya, Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj, and Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ‘Arabī.
Rooted in the Maqām art music tradition of the Mašriq and the musical heritage of the Arab Nahda school, the performance brings these texts into dialogue through composition, chant, and instrumental and vocal improvisation.
Performers
The Oratorio is performed by the Antonine University Ensemble of Classical Arabic Music:
- Composition, direction, and violin: Prof. Nidaa Abou Mrad, Dean of UA’s Faculty of Music and Musicology
- Chanting and riq: Rafka Rizk
- Chanting: Ahmad Amro
- Qānūn: Dr. Ghassan Sahhab, Chairperson of UA’s Department of General Musicology of Traditions
Event Details
Audience: Open to the public
Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2026
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Antonine University, Hadat–Baabda Campus
Program Details
The concert unfolds through five main waṣla, a musical form that brings together different vocal and instrumental sections within a Maqām.
1. Waṣla in Maqām Ḥusaynī al-Nawā
- An instrumental rendition of the muwashshaḥ “Bulbul al-Afrāḥ” in Maqām Ḥusaynī al-Nawā, on the Aqṣāq rhythmic cycle, from the Nahda musical tradition.
- Chanting of Saint Paul’s Hymn of Love, composed by Nidaa Abou Mrad in Maqām Ḥusaynī al-Nawā, set to the al-Muḥajjar rhythmic cycle.
- Chanting of Saint Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Creatures to the melody of the Cantiga de Santa Maria “A Virgen.”
- A muwashshaḥ based on a poem by Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ‘Arabī, in Maqām Ḥusaynī, composed by Nidaa Abou Mrad in the style of Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Urmawī al-‘Abbāsī.
2. Waṣla in Maqām Sīkāh Tīk Ḥiṣār
- Bashraf Qarah Bātāq al-Sīkāh on the Sama‘i Thaqīl rhythmic cycle, from the Nahda musical tradition.
- Improvised taqāsīm and chanting from the 16th Hymn of Divine Love by Saint Symeon the New Theologian (translated into Arabic by Viviane Naimy), in Maqām Sīkāh.
- Chanting of a poem by Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ‘Arabī, from Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, in Maqām Sīkāh, set to the Waḥda cycle, composed by Nidaa Abou Mrad.
3. Sacred Recitations in Maqām Ḥijāz
- Blessed recitation of the Verse of Light (35) from the Qur’an.
- Blessed recitation from the Hadith Qudsi.
- Improvised taqāsīm followed by chanting from “Munājāt al-Muḥibbīn” from Al-Sahifa al-Sajjādiyya by Imam Ali Zayn al-‘Ābidīn ibn al-Ḥusayn, in Maqām Ḥijāz.
4. Waṣla in Maqām Ḥijāz Kār al-Yakāh
- Bashraf Murabba‘ al-Ḥijāz Kār, composed by Nidaa Abou Mrad.
- Improvised taqāsīm, followed by chanting of a poem by Rābi‘a al-‘Adawiyya, in Maqām Ḥijāz Kār al-Miṣrī on al-Yakāh, set to the Waḥda cycle.
5. Waṣla in Maqām ‘Uššāq al-Yakāh
- Dūlāb, improvised taqāsīm, and chanting of a muwashshaḥ based on the poetry of Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj, composed by Nidaa Abou Mrad in Maqām ‘Uššāq al-Yakāh.
Presented within the Wellness and Mental Health Week, The Levantine Oratorio of Divine Love and Hope highlights the spiritual dimension of well-being and celebrates the enduring legacy of Islamic-Christian encounter through music.
More than a concert, the Oratorio invites the audience into a shared moment of contemplation, where music becomes prayer, dialogue becomes harmony, and faith, hope, and love resonate in both heart and mind.