Asia Society to Host NEW SOUNDS FROM IRAN Concert, 11/16

Asia Society continues its fall series "New Sounds from Iran" with a performance by Kayhan Kalhor, a master of classical Kurdish and Persian music, three time Grammy-Award nominated, and an original member of the Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble. The internationally acclaimed virtuoso performs his own compositions on kamancheh (Persian spiked fiddle), including material from his latest CD, I Will Not Stand Alone. Accompanying on the rarely heard santour (hammered dulcimer) is Ali Bahrami Fard, a student of the legendary Ostad Faramarz Payvar and one of his generation's most gifted and masterful santour players. Listen

The concert will take place at Asia Society's Lila Acheson Wallace Auditorium on Saturday, November 16 at 8 pm. Asia Society is located at 725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street, New York City). Tickets are $25 members; $30 students/seniors; $35 nonmembers. For updates and details, please visit http://asiasociety.org/iranmodern or call 212-517-ASIA.

I Stand Alone is a meditation on the early period of unrest in Iran - which left Kalhor feeling isolated and consumed by the violence that was taking place around him. Though this was one of the most difficult periods in his life, he took the opportunity to rethink his relationship to music, using it as a tool to connect with others. With this recording, Kayhan is also debuting a new instrument, the shah-kaman, designed especially for him.

This performance is part of "New Sound from Iran." The series emphasizes innovation within tradition and features artists who, drawing from recent or long-past legacies (East and West), demonstrate how one can expand the expressive power of musical forms and find global relevance in the present moment. "New Sound from Iran" is presented in conjunction with Iran Modern - a groundbreaking exhibition of Iranian modern art from the 1950s thru the 70s (the three decades preceding the 1979 Revolution), on view September 6, 2013 - January 5, 2014.

The third and last installment of "New Sounds from Iran" will take place on December 7 with "Sound: The Encounter"-a Middle-Eastern ensemble combining sounds from Iran and Syria with jazz improvisation and putting a contemporary spin to the musical legacy of the ancient caravans. The ensemble features Saeid Shanbehzadeh (Iranian bagpipe), Basel Rajoub (saxophone, duclar), Naghib Shanbehzadeh (percussion), and special guests.

"New Sounds from Iran" is part of Asia Society's ongoing initiative "Creative Voices of Muslim Asia," a multidisciplinary series launched in 2008 and celebrating the vivid and diverse ways in which Muslims in Asia express their creative voices at the beginning of the 21st century.

Kayhan Kalhor is an internationally acclaimed virtuoso on the kamancheh, and his performance of Persian music and his many collaborations have attracted audiences around the globe. Born to a Kurdish family in Teheran, Iran, he began his musical studies at the age of seven. At thirteen, he was invited to work with the National Orchestra of Radio and Television of Iran, where he performed for five years. When he was seventeen he began working with the Shayda Ensemble of the Chavosh Cultural Center, the most prestigious arts organization in Iran at the time. Kayhan has toured the world as a soloist with various ensembles and orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and the Orchestre de Lyon. He is co-founder of the renowned ensembles Dastan, Ghazal Persian & Indian Improvisations and Masters of Persian Music. He was featured on the soundtrack of Francis Ford Copolla's Youth Without Youth in a score that he collaborated with Osvaldo Golijov. Kayhan is an original member of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project and his compositions "Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur," "Silent City," and "Mountains Are Far Away," appear on all three of the Ensemble's albums. Three of Kayhan's recent recordings have been nominated for Grammys, and his new CD, Silent City, with the innovative ensemble Brooklyn Rider, was released on the World Village label in 2008 to critical acclaim.

Ali Bahrami Fard, born in Shiraz, studied santour with the legendary master Ostad Faramarz Payvar. With his impeccable technique and exquisite sound quality, Ali is one of his generation's most gifted and masterful santour players.