Composed (by Jasmine Karimova) for the Zutphen Cello Festival 2021

Shakuhachi - Harrie Starreveld 
Sheng - Wu Wei
Cello - Lidy Blijdorp + Alfian Emir Adytia + Kalle de Bie

When I Wake

We Should Be Well Prepared 
Jasmine Karimova
2022

Composed for the 'Meesters & Gezellen' project with Cappella Amsterdam choir. Recorded in Noordwijk, under the baton of Daniel Reuss. https://www.cappellaamsterdam.nl/productie/meesters-gezellen-2023/

'An impossible longing for something that cannot be - this is at the heart of ‘We Should Be Well Prepared’. Using original text alongside a poem by Mary Oliver (after which the piece is named), the words unpack the process of reckoning with one's yearning. 

The human condition is sensitive to loss, and yet hopeless in dealing with it. We try to be reasonable about these things, accept the natural order of life, but our longing gives us away. 

In the poem, Mary Oliver describes the many ways in which the world prepares us for loss; the way the leaves fall, the way the days go by… everything and everyone eventually comes to an end, all things eventually fall apart. We should be well prepared… and yet, we never are.'

We Should Be Well Prepared

By Jasmine Karimova. Composed for and performed during the Organ Symposium ‘22 @ Orgelpark, Amsterdam. 

Image by Annelie de Bruijn

Unfurl; Stay Soft

Recorded with CVA Symphony Orchestra under Ryan Bancroft.

IN, OUT

Text by Rückert
Composition by Mahler

Arranged by J.Karimova for the NedPho Kamerorkest. 
Sung by Hannah Gries

Liebst Du Um Schönheit

Text by J.Karimova
Composition & arrangement by J.Karimova
For the NedPho Kamerorkest. 
Sung by Hannah Gries

Lyrics:
Beneath the moon's pale glow, I wept 
His love, misleading - his love, inept

"If beauty you seek," I tried to warn, 
You should love the sun, 
With golden morn

Should you crave youth's bloom... 
Hh, love not me, Go love the spring, 
Her eternal glee

"Love not for gold," my heart did plea 
The mermaid drowns in pearls at sea

In blind pursuit, I saw no end 
Desperate - my mind did bend

For love's sake, 
I longed for more. 
For love’s sake, 
I took a knife to his core

A tale of woe, 
A tragic lore, 
His love misplaced, 
Forevermore.

Jasmine Karimova

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