Silkroad Ensemble's HOME WITHIN At The Soraya, April 2

The Grammy-winning Silkroad Ensemble returns to The Soraya on Saturday, April 2 at 8pm with Home Within, a visual and lyrical tribute to those impacted by the Syrian tragedy.

Home Within is an emotional accounting of home in a time of conflict. An audio-visual performance conceived by Syrian composer and clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and Syrian Armenian visual artist Kevork Mourad, the result is an impressionistic reflection on the unity of loss, longing, and the impact of tragedy on our sense of 'home'. Rather than follow a narrative, the artists document 'home' within specific moments in Syria's recent history, using the counterpoint between image and sound to establish a sense of sustained urgency and continued hope for both their homeland and communities around the world.

Silkroad's musicians hail from more than 20 countries, drawing from a rich tapestry of traditions to create a uniquely engaging and accessible encounter between the foreign and the familiar that reflects our own identities. The Los Angeles Times says, "Theirs is the better world available if we, like these extraordinary musicians, agree to make it one."

Tickets start at $36 and are available at www.thesoraya.org and by calling 818-677-3000. The Soraya is located at 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA 91330.

Founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 2000 and now under the artistic direction of Rhiannon Giddens, the Grammy award-winning Silkroad Ensemble has been at the core of Silkroad's work to advance global understanding, deepen learning, and promote cross-cultural collaboration. These artists represent dozens of nationalities and artistic traditions, from Spain and Japan to Syria and the United States, and draw on a rich tapestry of traditions from around the world to create a new musical language that weaves together the foreign and the familiar. The Ensemble appears in many configurations and settings, from intimate groups of two and three in museum galleries to rousing complements of eighteen in concert halls, public squares, and amphitheaters.

Silkroad Ensemble performs throughout the world and has recorded eight albums. Sing Me Home, which won the 2016 Grammy for Best World Music Album was developed and recorded alongside the documentary feature The Music of Strangers, from Oscar-winning director Morgan Neville.

Clarinetist Kinan Azmeh is hailed as a "virtuoso, intensely soulful" by The New York Times and "spellbinding" by The New Yorker. Syrian-born, Brooklyn-based genre-bending composer and clarinetist, Azmeh has been touring the globe with great acclaim as a soloist, composer and improviser. He has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Daniel Barenboim, John McLaughlin, Aynur and Djivan Gasparian, among others. He leads his own bands Hewar and the Kinan Azmeh CityBand. His 2019 orchestral album Uneven Sky with the Deutsches Symphony Orchestra Berlin has won Germany's OpusKlassik Award.

Recent commissions include works for the Seattle Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Brooklyn Rider, Aizuri Quartet and Cello Octet Amsterdam.
He is a graduate of The Juilliard School, the Damascus High Institute of Music, and Damascus University's School of Electrical Engineering, Kinan holds a doctorate in music from the City University of New York. He is currently working on his first opera, Songs For Days To Come which will be premiered in June 2022 at The Osnabruck Theater, Germany.

Visual artist Kevork Mourad was born in Kamechli, Syria. Of Armenian origin, he received an MFA from the Yerevan Institute of Fine Arts and now lives and works in New York. His past and current projects include the Cirène project with members of Brooklyn Rider at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the multimedia play Lost Spring (2015) with Anaïs Alexandra Tekerian, at the MuCEM, Gilgamesh(2003) and Home Within (2013) with Kinan Azmeh in Damascus and at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, among others, Lembit Beecher's I Have No Stories to Tell You, commissioned by Opera Philadelphia, Master Peter's Puppet Show (2015) with The Knights at Tanglewood, and Barbed Wire (2015), with Issam Rafea, commissioned by The Space, UK.

At the time of the ticket purchase, customers will be asked to attest that everyone in their party has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or will be able to present proof of a negative COVID-19 test at the venue doors. At the venue doors, all attendees who are 2 years of age and older will be required to show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative viral test result prior to entry. If providing a negative test result, it must be either a PCR test taken within 2 days of the event, or an antigen test taken within 1 day of the event. Over the counter "self-tests" will not be accepted. In addition, ushers will cross-check proof of full vaccination or negative COVID-19 viral test result against photo identification for attendees who are 18 years or older.

Face masks are required in all indoor spaces for anyone 2 years of age and older, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status.

Any updates and recommended guidance from our public health experts; further information and updates will be posted here.

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