Central Michigan University Symphonic Wind Ensemble
Chris Chapman, Conductor

Program Note
If you walk across the Georgia Rail pedestrian overpass at the Edgewood/Candler Park MARTA station at sunset, you will be graced by one of Atlanta’s more arresting vistas. The setting star colors the sky in rich hues reminiscent of a Rothko painting. Against this matte, downtown’s distant skyscrapers rise serenely; sparks of dying light glint off the well-polished rails below. In my year teaching away from home at Georgia State University, I often took in that view on my way home. The moment unfolded for at a particular nexus of complexity in my life: exhausted, alone in a new city with few friends, away from my spouse, elated about finally working in my field, in love with the vibrancy of the city all around me, lost, found, anxious, ecstatic, here, away, grounded, in mid air… I didn’t set out to write about any of this. But when I was done, and bewildered by what this storm of a composition process had created, I became aware that the memory that most fit the music I had written was the one of stopping on that overpass and looking out over the end of the day as I made my way home, wherever I thought that might be.

This movement is part of a larger work meditating on public transit train stations that have been important in my life. The other movements will be titled:

Place St.-Henri (Montreal metro)
30th Street Station (Philadelphia SEPTA)
Hikifune (Tokyo’s Tôbu)

Station To Station: 1. Edgewood/Candler Park

Ramin Akhavijou, Composer
Abbas Sarafraz, Kamancheh Player & Improviser

The Wounded Throat Of Sound

انقلاب چگونه رخ می‌دهد؟ عوامل ساختاری در وقوع انقلاب مؤثرتر است یا عاملیت فردی؟ خشونت یا خشونت‌پرهیزی؟ انقلاب‌های سیاسی پایدارترند یا انقلاب‌های اجتماعی؟ بررسی انقلاب‌ها در نقاط مختلف دنیا چه واقعیت‌هایی را درباره‌ی ماهیت هر یک از این رویدادهای تاریخی افشا می‌کند؟ و چرا هدف انقلاب باید با وسایل دستیابی به آن سازگار باشد؟ کتابِ «درباره‌ی انقلاب‌ها: سیاست سرکش در دنیای معاصر» (On Revolutions: Unruly Politics in the Contemporary World) موضوع این قسمت از پادکستِ «یک کتاب» است. این کتاب را انتشارات دانشگاه آکسفورد چند ماه پیش و به قلمِ کالین بِک، ملادا بوکاوانسکی، اریکا چِنووت، جورج لاوسون، شارون اریکسون نپستاد و دانیل ریتر منتشر شده کرده است.

«یک کتاب: «درباره‌ی انقلاب‌ها: سیاست سرکش در دنیای معاصر

This piece was written to celebrate the resumption of in-person concerts after a year and a half of remote performing. It is constructed such that the major instrument groups work independently at first, but gradually bring their motives, rhythms, harmonies, and timbres into increasingly simultaneous relation over the course of the piece. The work ends on a complex, resonant chord that resolves many—but not all—of the work’s tensions, a chord made manifest by the artistry, by the dedication of everyone performing. Together.

Ensemble (2022)

2022 – When They Broke Down the Door – Soprano and Orchestra
Based on a poem by Fatemeh (Shahrzad) Shams, translated by Dick Davis
(1, 1, 1, 1 – 1, 1, 1, 0 – 1 percussion - piano/melodica – strings)
Premiere:   July 2022, Brandeis University, MA
Sharon Harms, Soprano - Holly Druckman, Condutor

Cover: Nima Karimi

When they broke down the door

که ریخت جای بارون رودی از خون
که رفت قدر کارون خون پس از خون

«خون پس از خون»
صدا: ماهور
ترانه: طاها میرحسینی و ماهور
تصویر: مازیار شریفیان
ترجمه: مسعود
ملودی از آهنگ «جهنم»، اثر استرومای و تصویرِ آسانسور از فیلم «درخشش» اثر استنلی کوبریک گرفته شده‌اند.

ویدیوکلیپ از لینک زیر
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnIMFVQoeFl/

Blood after Blood
Vocal: Mahoor
Lyrics: Taha Mirhoseini & Mahoor
Video: Mazyar Sharifian
Translation: Masoud
The music is taken from L'enfer, by Stromae, and the elevator scene is from The Shining, by Stanley Kubrick.

Watch the videoclip via:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnIMFVQoeFl/

خون پس از خون - Blood after Blood - Khoon Pas az Khoon (L'enfer Persian cover)

مادر جان
دلم تنگ است
دور از تو
دنیا بی‌رنگ است

ولی دارم کاری با این دنیایی از تاریکی
رسوایی
بی‌مهری
تنهایی

چون دارم رویایی بی‌کران از
آزادی


Lyrics: Aida Shahghasemi
Guitar: Aida Shahghasemi

Jina

For orchestra and electronics
Commissioned by IRCAM and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France;
Conductor: Pascal Rophé;
Electronics developed in collaboration at IRCAM with Etienne Démoulin;
Electronic part performed by Etienne Démoulin;
Recording engineer: Luca Bagnoli
Live recording at Maison de la Radio et de la Musique as part of Manifeste 2023;
Date: June 23, 2023.

"T   O       R             N" is an exploration of various psychological and emotional states resulting from inner and outer conflicts, namely the state of uprootedness, while longing and yet, failing to put down roots elsewhere, or the sense of uncertainty, predicament, and hollowness caused by personal or collective traumas; experiences that can haunt us for long periods of time, if not permanently…
The piece navigates continuity, interruption and the space between them. Within larger continuous sections, smaller segments with timbral, harmonic, gestural, and dynamic contrast invade the space and create fissures. These fissures may provide a temporary release from the preceding tension, while retaining residues from the previous section, and simultaneously, bearing the initial traces of the
upcoming section. At times, the electronics are treated as a magnifying mirror that echo and expand the orchestra. In other cases, they defy it as a disruptive force with contrasting dynamic or timbral qualities.

Image: "Silence" by Johann Heinrich Füssli

T   O       R             N

Veiled Dancers for solo cello, composed by Mojan Alaiyeh. 
Premiered at Grachtenfestival 2023, Felix Meritis - Amsterdam.
Performed by Renee Timmer
II: Sāri

In this composition I drew inspiration from my roots in Iranian and Azerbaijani (northwestern province of Iran) music. These influences significantly shaped my upbringing and musical development. I sought to intertwine these cultural elements with my unique musical language and background in classical music. Motifs and fragments of Azeri traditional dance music, reminiscent of my childhood experiences, were incorporated into the piece. The title is a nod to the traditional Azeri dance costume for women, characterized by long veils and shawls worn over their heads. My memories of an Azeri dance performance, where the dancers were adorned in blue and yellow attire, inspired the chosen titles for the movements. "Veiled Dancers" serves as a heartfelt tribute to my childhood and the profound impact it had on my musical journey.

II- Sāri (from Veiled Dancers for solo cello)

In a field I am the absence of field

Sepehr Pirasteh (b. 1993) is a composer and conductor born in Shiraz, Iran. His compositions draw on Persian classical and folk as well as contemporary classical music vocabularies to express his concerns and fears about the political and social realities of the world we are living in.

When they broke down the door

Sepehr Pirasteh

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