Drawing inspiration from archival exhibition catalogs of the Shiraz Festival, which had broad and lasting impacts on contemporary and experimental music in Iran, this concert features music by contemporary Iranian composers.
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Hosted by: Kislak Center
Drawing inspiration from archival exhibition catalogs of the Shiraz Festival in the Penn Libraries collections, this concert features music by contemporary Iranian composers. Throughout its run from 1967 to 1977, the Shiraz Festival was host to an array of contemporary classical and avant garde composers from Europe and the United States. Among them were Karlheinz Stockhausen, Iannis Xenakis, Olivier Messiaen, Bruno Maderna, John Cage, David Tudor, and Morton Feldman. A significant arts center, which was to include electronic music and recording studios, was planned as an outgrowth of the festival.
While the complex politics of the Shah’s regime and the approaching revolution brought these developments to an end, the festival had broad and lasting impacts on contemporary and experimental music in Iran. This program includes music by Iranian composers, several generations removed from the festival, all living in exile, whose work is an example of this enduring legacy.
The pre-concert talk is at 6:15 pm, followed by the concert at 7:00 pm. There will be no intermission.
Anahita Abbasi (1985): Seven Impressions
Alize Rozsnyai, soprano
Andy Thierauf, percussion
Farzia Fallah (1980): Posht-e Hichestan
Nicholas Handahl, flute
Sepehr Pirasteh (1993): Rubáiyát
Tom Kraines, cello
Aida Shirazi (1987): ephemera
Jonathan Leeds, clarinet
Andy Thierauf, percussion
Ashkan Behzadi (1983): Agony, Rage of Forgotten People, Elegy
Carlos Santiago, violin
Founded in 2016, the Arcana New Music Ensemble is a group of Philadelphia-based musicians dedicated to presenting interesting, beautiful, and unconventional music in interesting, beautiful, and unconventional places.
Presented by the University of Pennsylvania's Music Department, the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, and the Otto E. Albrecht Music Library.
Featured image: Mantra, for two pianos: Karlheinz Stockhausen (composer), Alfons Kontarsky, Aloys Kontarsky (pianists); Saray-e Moshir, Shiraz (Iran), 1972; courtesy Stockhausen-Stiftung für Musik / Archaeology of the Final Decade Archives.