Songs of Hope – Kayhan Kalhor – SOLD OUT

This event is SOLD OUT.

Entrance for this concert in the Alix Goolden Performance Hall is at 900 Johnson Street. The Balcony is closed for this event.

One of Iran’s most beloved artists and the preeminent ambassador of Persian music Kayhan Kalhor is a soulful master of the kamancheh, the Persian spiked fiddle. Widely known for his stirring improvisations exquisite compositions and extensive collaborations, Kalhor returns to Victoria alongside with setar virtuoso Kiya Tabassian and one of the greatest voices of new generation Iran’s singers, Hadi Hosseini. Together they will present a unique program of sublime Persian music and poetry.

KAYHAN KALHOR, kamancheh
HADI HOSSEINI, voice
KIYA TABSSIAN, setar
HAMIN HONARI, tombak 

KAYHAN KALHOR
Five-time Grammy nominee and a Grammy winner (2017) Kayhan Kalhor is an internationally acclaimed virtuoso on the kamancheh who through his many musical collaborations has been instrumental in popularizing Persian music in the West and is a creative force in today’s music scene. His performances of traditional Persian music and multiple collaborations have attracted audiences around the globe. He has studied the music of Iran’s many regions in particular those of Khorason and Kordestan and has toured the world as a soloist with various ensembles and orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and the Orchestre National de Lyon. He is co-founder of the renowned ensembles Dastan Ghazal: Persian & Indian Improvisations and Masters of Persian Music.

Kayhan Kalhor has composed works for Iran’s most renowned vocalists Mohammad Reza Shajarian and Shahram Nazeri and has also performed and recorded with Iran’s greatest instrumentalists.He has composed music for television and film and was most recently featured on the soundtrack of Francis Ford Copolla’s Youth Without Youth in a score that he collaborated on with Osvaldo Golijov. In 2004 Kayhan was invited by American composer John Adams to give a solo recital at Carnegie Hall as part of his Perspectives Series and in the same year he appeared on a double bill at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival sharing the program with the Festival Orchestra performing the Mozart Requiem. Kayhan is a founding member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble and his compositions appear on several of the Ensemble’s albums.

KIYA TABASSIAN
Setar virtuoso and acclaimed composer Kiya Tabassian has carved out a privileged place on the international music scene with his ensemble Constantinople and as a soloist. With his celebrated cross-cultural musical encounters, he travels across the five continents to present his creations and his music on stages all over the world.He has contributed to many eclectic projects as a composer performer and improviser. To cite a few he has collaborated with the Montreal Symphonic Orchestra and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne. He has actively participated in the international project MediMuses from 2002 to 2005 as a member of a research group on the history and the repertoire of Mediterranean music. He also intervened in the Atlas ensemble (Netherlands) since 2009 and contributed to the Atlas Academy as a tutor a double project aimed at conjoining contemporary music and oral traditions together.

In 2015 he establishes and directs the very first world music residency program at the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity and between 2017 and 2022 he acts as Associate Artist of the prestigious Rencontres musicales de Conques (France). Kiya was a member of the Conseil des arts de Montréal for seven years including as chairman of the music committee for three years. He also set at the Board of Directors of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for four years. He is the artistic director of the Centre des musiciens du monde a music Centre he co-founded in Montreal in 2017 as a space for creation meetings exchanges and the transmission of knowledge between professional musicians and the public.

This concert is presented as a collaboration between the New Old World Music Society of BC and Constantinople.

Venue Accessibility

The 900 Johnson Street entrance is at ground-level and wheelchair accessible. There is an elevator located on the first floor: as you enter the building go down the ramp to your right and the elevator is on the left at the bottom. Priority seating can be provided at concerts if you have accessibility issues; please contact the Venues Department . Wheelchair accessible restrooms are located on the main floor, beside the lobby in the Reception and Registration area.