Persian Music Virtuoso Hossein Omouni to Make Rare New York Appearance

A World in Trance, now in its fourth edition, has been host to some of the world's most captivating music, bringing people together in search of enlightenment and spirituality. The three-day festival closes on April 29th with a rare NY appearance with the internationally renowned Hossein Omoumi, a virtuoso of the Persian ney (flute) and an accomplished vocalist. He has been acclaimed for his tours and recordings with many of Iran's leading artists, including Parissa, and introduced significant innovations to the ney and Iranian percussion. He will be joined by the evocative vocalist Jessika Kenney, Amir Koushkani (setar and tar lutes), and Hamin Honari (tombak - goblet drum, daf - tambourine). Their program of mystical and spiritual Persian music is influenced by the Isfahan school, which is based on vocal repertoire and poetry; included are works by Rumi and Attar.

Hossein Omoumi was born in 1944 in Isfahân, Iran, and began his musical education singing with his father. At age 14, he started studying the ney, the traditional reed flute of Iran. While studying architecture, he was accepted as a tutorial student at the National Superior Conservatory of Music in Tehran. He worked with masters Mahmud Karimi and Farhâd Fakhreddini, and then went on to study with the great ney master Hassan Kassâei. His performance career has included appearances at many major festivals and concert halls in Europe and the US. A noted scholar and teacher of Persian music, he taught at the National Conservatory, Tehran University, and the Center for Preservation and Dissemination of Music in Tehran; the Center for Oriental Music Studies (CEMO) of Sorbonne University in Paris; and the ethnomusicology departments of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle. Presently he is the Maseeh Professor in Persian Performing Arts of Music at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). He has done extensive research on the ney and Iranian percussion, and arranged and composed lessons to teach the principles of classical Persian music under the title of 'Pish Radif.' The film Classical Persian Music -Hossein Omoumi from Isfahan to Irvine, which documents his mission to provide global access to classical Persian music, was released in 2017, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Jessika Kenney is an award-winning vocalist, composer, and teacher based in the Los Angeles area. Her solo performances include "Headless Translations," wild and studious interpretations of mystical poetry. Her voice and compositions can be heard on the Ideologic Organ, Black Truffle, SIGE, Weyrd Son, Present Music, and Haft Dastgah labels. Kenney began studying radifs with Hossein Omoumi in 2004, and soon after contributed to the production and performance of "Voices of Spring" (2007). Inspired by the spiritual atmospheres and practical rigors of Persian avaz and Javanese sindhenan, Kenney has created many new works, including "Anchor Zero," a sound and video installation which premiered at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle in 2015, as well as "Concealed Unity" which was presented in 2012 for orchestra and choir in collaboration with Eyvind Kang. Kenney is currently a VoiceArts faculty member at California Institute of Arts.

Amir Koushkani is a performer, composer and instructor of the traditional târ and setâr stringed instruments. He holds a Master's degree in western musical composition, and a PhD in ethnomusicology. Over the last three decades, apart from concentrating on different aspects of classical Persian music, he has composed widely for theatre, orchestra, and various musical ensembles. He recently published a two-volume study on the "Persian Avaz" in collaboration with Mohammad Reza Shajarian and Prof. Robert Simms.

Hamin Honari is an Iranian-Canadian hand drummer who has specialized in the Iranian tombak (hand drum). He has focused on adapting his drumming style and technique to accommodate many different genres of music. He has toured as a member of the Dastan Ensemble, one of Iran's most well-known Persian classical music ensembles, and has performed with many renowned musicians and singers including Salar Aghili, Parissa, Hossein Omoumi, Hossein Behroozinia, Saeed Farajpouri, and Itamar Erez. Hamin lives in Vancouver, BC where he is actively teaching and performing Persian and Middle Eastern hand drums. He performs with a special tuning-tombak designed by Hossein Omoumi.

This concert is supported in part with public funding provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State legislature. Additional funding is provided by the New York Community Trust.

Photo: Marco Prozzo