George Pehlivanian, conductor
Issa Boulos, buzuq
Baian Reda, oud
Yassine Ayari, nay
Rony Moser, Arabic clarinet
George Oro, percussion
Taoufik Mirkhan, qanun
Herbert Schuch, piano

Program

Boulos: Sama’i Nahawand for strings and takht
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme from Paganini
R. Strauss: Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life)

Interview with George Pehlivanian, conductor

This set of two connected pieces was commissioned and premiered by the Palestine Youth Orchestra especially for the Jordan Festival in summer 2010. Issa describes the piece thus: ‘the two compositions describe the same thing, a street, in a neighborhood where my girl used to live. The street remains the same. The same trees are still there; and the same breeze! It seems a little busier at times, but rather still pretty quite. Few things have changed, primarily, my girl no longer lives there, and there are fewer birds on the trees. The same street, the way it feels to me now, and the way it used to feel back then, that’s how I thought about the pieces, and that’s how they are connected’. To convey this message, Issa’s blends elements of traditional Palestinian music with the influence of grandiose neo-romantic classical music, often in heavily orchestrated blocks, supporting the Arabic soloists that form the takht of oud buzuk and qanoon.

Shari Baitik / Takht and Orchestra  / Issa Boulos / عيسى بولص / شارع بيتك / تخت واوركسترا

This set of two connected pieces was commissioned and premiered by the Palestine Youth Orchestra especially for the Jordan Festival in summer 2010. Issa describes the piece thus: ‘the two compositions describe the same thing, a street, in a neighborhood where my girl used to live. The street remains the same. The same trees are still there; and the same breeze! It seems a little busier at times, but rather still pretty quite. Few things have changed, primarily, my girl no longer lives there, and there are fewer birds on the trees. The same street, the way it feels to me now, and the way it used to feel back then, that’s how I thought about the pieces, and that’s how they are connected’. To convey this message, Issa’s blends elements of traditional Palestinian music with the influence of grandiose neo-romantic classical music, often in heavily orchestrated blocks, supporting the Arabic soloists that form the takht of 'ud buzuq and qanun.

Shari Baitik Fi Yum Tani / Takht and Orchestra  / Issa Boulos / شارع بيتك في يوم تاني

Sama'i HIjazKar Issa Boulos سماعي حجاز كار عيسى بولص

Manfa (Exile) / Issa Boulos with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

That Evening

Boulos - Sama'i Nahawand for Strings and Takht

Midnight meditation was written for Ud by composer Issa Bulos.
The piece was adapted for guitar by Maoz Ezra.

That Evening

iboulos

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