Zohra Orchestra

The institute was formed in 2008 with the goal of bringing a musical education to young Afghans in the wake of liberation from the Taliban, under whom women's rights in Afghanistan were severely curtailed.

They have performed at the World Economic Forum and toured the United Kingdom in 2019, visiting the British Museum in London and the University of Oxford.

The event was co-organised by the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Australian Government to concurrently celebrate 50 years of official diplomatic relations between the two countries.

[4] After the 2021 seizure of Kabul by the Taliban, the school building of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (the orchestra's parent organization) was turned into a base by the Haqqani network guerrilla group.

[5][6] In October 2021, members of the orchestra reassembled in Doha, Qatar, along with about 100 students and teachers of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music who were planning to relocate to Portugal.