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“Revered among aficionados of Persian classical and folk music, Sahba Motallebi is a virtuoso performer on the long-necked stringed instruments known as tar and setar. ” – LA Weekly

Imagine . . . You were in charge and it was your job to bring peace to the world. What would you do?

The Welcome Reception introduces international students and scholars to the Philadelphia area and to the rich network of global communities and resources in the region. The event is provided free of charge to international students and scholars from universities in the Delaware Valley region, featuring live multicultural performances and cuisine.

SUKHISHILI has performed for fifty million people in eighty-eight countries on five continents. It was a headline attraction with New York City Ballet for the George Balanchine Centennial. It has previously performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Avery Fisher Hall, Madison Square Garden Albert Hall, the Rome Coliseum and La Scala where it was enthusiastically welcomed with rousing ovation and a record-setting number of curtain calls.

For the second year, IHP is pleased to host a Feast of Eid in our courtyard. Eid al-Fitr(Arabic), also called Feast of Breaking the Fast, is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting (sawm). The religious Eid is a single day and Muslims are not permitted to fast that day. The holiday celebrates the conclusion of the 29 or 30 days of dawn-to-sunset fasting during the month of Ramadan.  

Death sentences for members of the Muslim Brotherhood were recently handed down by Egypt’s criminal court, and more than 100,000 Syrians have died as a result of the carnage of Syria’s civil war. Yet, millions of Iraqis embraced the right to vote in recent elections, and in other countries, new governments and constitutions are in place.

Dr. Paul Salem, Vice President for Policy and Research at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., will join the discussion about the historic changes taking place in the Middle East and will offer his insights on the rapidly-changing political, social and economic conditions in Egypt, Syria and their neighbors.

 Iran – once the East’s powerful center of art and culture – has of late been considered by many a radical and repressive member of the “Evil Empire.”

Some argue that the election of President Rouhani offers an opportunity which must be seized to negotiate a diplomatic repair of Iran’s relations with the United States and the West, and in particular, to resolve the question of Iranian nuclear weapons ambitions. Others argue that the apparent Iranian moderation is a sham and that no diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue is possible.