San Francisco Comes Together in Sahba Aminikia's The Language of the Birds
In the 12th-century Persian poem The Language of the Birds (also known as The Conference of the Birds), the parallels between birds and humans are obvious, says composer Sahba Aminikia, who has been in residency at the North Beach nonprofit arts organization 836M for the past five months, working on a multimedia adaptation of the poem. Now, Aminikia’s piece is set for its world premiere, May 31 – June 1 at 836M. (Both performances are currently listed as sold out.)
Rumi’s favorite 12th century epic comes to musical life in ‘The Language of the Birds’
When nonprofit arts organization 836M announced Sahba Aminikia as its first composer-in-residence last December, a centuries-spanning collaboration began to take shape. The Iranian-born composer brought with him The Language of the Birds (May 31 and June 1), a project inspired by the 12th century poem bearing the same title by Farid ud-din Attar, a Persian mystic revered by the 13th century poet Rumi and many others.
After hundreds of years and with the support of 836M, which was co-founded by Julie & Sébastien Lépinard and Agnès Faure and named for its gallery at 836 Montgomery Street. A remarkable lineage, extending from Attar to Rumi to Aminikia to 2024 audiences, will give birth to a new work of art.
Verdigris Ensemble, Dallas’ innovative choir, bringing medieval Persian poetry to life
Verdigris Ensemble, Dallas’ innovative choir, is at it again.
Now in its sixth season, the choir has previously created and sold a choral NFT for $375,000 and given performances with themes ranging from the Big Bang to the Dust Bowl to the lives of Dallas residents. Its next project is a new kind of collaboration.
Love Unites Music, Poetry and Art in Verdigris Ensemble's ‘SHAMS'
What can a modern audience learn about love from a 13th-century mystic? Verdigris Ensemble answers that question with SHAMS, a performance art experience about the transformative power of love.
After three years of collaboration with the Crow Museum of Asian Art, San Francisco-based Iranian composer Sahba Aminikia and New York-based Syrian artist Kevork Mourad, Verdigris Ensemble will premiere SHAMS April 14-16 at the Moody Performance Hall in the Dallas Arts District. The work incorporates the choral ensemble’s 16 voices, a string quartet, prerecorded sounds, visual projections and staging.
SAHBA AMINIKIA COMPOSES FOR THESE TIMES
Sahba Aminikia was called by the San Francisco Chronicle “an artist singularly equipped to provide a soundtrack to these unsettling times". Aminikia lives in the United States, but his family is from Iran. Early this month, his work was part of a festival by the world-famous Kronos Quartet, for whom Aminikia is writer-in-residence. His mother, a U.S. green card holder who is in Tehran, was caught in the travel ban issued by President Trump, so she missed the early February festival at SFJazz that included her son’s music.
Aminikia’s compositions are haunting and ethereal and combine elements from both eastern and western musical traditions to create sounds that are as exotic as they are familiar.
Welum caught up with the 35- year-old composer to ask about his music and how beauty and ethics are taken into account in his artistic creations and in his life.
Sound, Only Sound Remains to Blend Old, New Iranian Music at Kronos Festival
If there’s one word that best describes the Kronos Festival 2016: Explorer Series running Feb 4-7 at SFJAZZ Center it’s “reach.” Or perhaps “reaching,” because there’s nothing static about this seven-concert showcase.
The Tragedy of Sohrab for Living Earth Show
Tragedy of Sohrab is a collaboration between Sahba Aminikia and The Living Earth Show a San Francisco-based duo. The piece depicts the story of Sohrab, a Persian mythological character from The Epic of Kings who was murdered by his own father Pahlavan Rostam who was unaware that he is fighting against his own child. The piece is for Guitars, Percussion instruments and narrator which is done masterfully by David Garner another wonderful San Francisco-based composer and currently a composition faculty at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The piece will be world-premiered on February 8th 2014 in San Francisco Z Space where The Living Earth Show will open for the Kronos Quartet.
This year’s San Francisco Conservatory ‘exports’ to the Kennedy Center
Millennium Stage is a series of free concerts offered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, which take place every day at 6 PM (local time). Not only is admission free but also the performances are offered through live webcasts. The captured video is then archived for viewing at the convenience of any would-be audience. The San Francisco Conservatory has been participating in this series since 2004 through the Conservatory Project, which features the best talent from our country's best venues for advanced music education; and all seven of their past performances have been archived. The next one is scheduled for April 26.