IRANIAN

CULTURAL EVENTS

IRANIAN MOVIES

High Museum of Art - Iranian Movie Festival

AUGUST - SEPTEMBER

Highly Recommended by the Language Institute of Atlanta. Practice your Farsi & Discover the culture, people landscape of Iran. Very interesting insight about the social and political life of Modern Iran

Movies Schedule

PERSIAN MUSIC CONCERT

A true superstar lineup of Iranian musicians return to the U.S. and Canada after two years absence. Masters of Persian Music will again offer audiences a rare opportunity to see four of Iran's most celebrated musicians together: the legendary singer MOHAMMAD REZA SHAJARIAN, HOSSEIN ALIZADEH on tar (lute), KAYHAN KALHOR on kamancheh (spike fiddle) and HOMAYOUN SHAJARIAN on tombak (percussion) and vocals.

The appeal of Persian classical music to Western audiences is evidenced by cellist Yo Yo Ma's decision to add Persian music to his palette, when he performed with Kayhan Kalhor in the Silk Road Tour. Characterized by exquisite mastery of vocal and instrumental nuance, and a keening sense of spritual quest, this is music that transcends language barriers. The Masters of Persian Music tour is a must for anyone interested in the best of world music.

MOHAMMAD REZA SHAJARIAN is a living legend whose superb technical skill, warm vocal style and vast knowledge of classical Iranian poetry have made him the most successful classical singer in the country. A winner of the UNESCO Picasso award, one of Europe's highest honors, he is a household name in Iran. During the musical renaissance which followed the 1979 Revolution, and his close creative work with other musicians at this time, he consolidated his position as the foremost musician of Iranian classical music. Shajarian has given concerts around the world and worked closely with the most prominent contemporary classical musicians.

KAYHAN KALHOR was a child prodigy on the kamancheh. In 1978 Kalhor went to Rome to study Western classical music and continued his studies in the 80s at Carlton College in Ottawa, where he received a degree in music. He has composed works for Iran's most renowned vocalists, including M.R. Shajarian and Shahram Nazeri, and performed with great instrumentalists such as Faramarz Payvar and Hossein Alizadeh. His group Ghazal, featuring the collaborative improvisations of Kalhor and the Indian sitar player Shujaat Khan, has performed across North America and Europe. His most recent commissions include traditional Persian works written for the Kronos Quartet, and for Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road Project, which toured in 2001, including a performance with the New York Philharmonic with Yo Yo Ma.

HOSSEIN ALIZADEH founded the Aref Ensemble and performed with the Shayda Ensemble, both dedicated to the promotion and advancement of Persian classical music. He has composed many works in the Persian classical tradition and written and published a number of etudes for tar. He taught at the University of Tehran, The Tehran Music Conservatory and, in 1994, was visiting professor at UCLA.

HOMAYOUN SHAJARIAN is the son of master vocalist M.R. Shajarian and a rising star of the next generation of Persian classical music. At the age of six he began studying under percussion masters Nasser Frahangfar and Jamshid Mohebbi, and later attended the School of Art in Tehran. In addition to tombak, Homayoun studies the vocal tradition with his father. Since 1991 he has played in many ensembles accompanying his father worldwide.