Allow us to introduce you to two wonderful musicians and human beings, Oud master Naser Musa and cellist Evan Kahn!
Naser Musa is an Oud master, vocalist, an award-winning composer and a performer on numerous film sound tracks. He and Listen for Life have shared many years and projects together. He performed in the Listen for Life concert at Carnegie Hall produced by LFL founder, concert pianist Donna Stoering, and the two of them also created a cross-cultural performance for a global conference of world religions...Prior to that he performed with an array of LFL artists from various cultures in three Southern California amphitheaters, for our massive Sound Collectors shows which were produced at the request of U.N. organizations in Geneva for previous years' celebrations of International Peace Day. In recent years he has focused much of his time and talents on writing, singing and performing Arabic Christian songs for a global television network. We were so happy that he could be part of this 2020 Peace Day broadcast as well. Here is a more extensive bio off the Internet:
"Naser Musa is recognized as a talented singer, a gifted songwriter, an Oud virtuoso, an award winning composer, and a versatile studio musician. Naser Musa has composed, arranged, and recorded numerous projects in the Middle East and in the United States. His recordings, among others, include "Arabia 3D" sound track: winner of the GSCA award for best score and best sound track of 2010, "Khaliji" (RT Productions): a collection of folk songs from the Arabian Gulf region, and "Christmas and Beyond "(SahaRaneen Productions): a collection of Western Christmas carols and Arabic church hymns. Naser Musa’s name appears on dozens of albums, including contributions on projects for Hollywood with John Debney and John Cameron among others. He has recorded with pop stars Shakira, Beyonce and Michael Sembello. Naser Musa has shared the stage with Lebanese vocalists, Sabah and Ragheb Alame, and Egyptian vocalists, Hani Shaker and Hakim. Naser’s Oud was heard on the soundtrack of the film "The Passion of the Christ" by director Mel Gibson. An active and sought after performer, Naser has performed at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Hollywood Bowl, the United Nations and Chicago’s Symphony Hall. He toured the United States, South America and the Middle East, and he regularly performs with prominent ethnomusicologists Dr. A. J. Racy of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and Dr. Scott Marcus of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Mr. Musa was featured as a soloist with the Cairo Orchestra during its 2005 U.S. tour with Grammy award winners Youssou N’Dour, of Senegal and Egyptian producer and arranger Fathy Salama. For the past 5 years Naser has been touring worldwide with highly acclaimed Persian band Niyaz and world renowned singer Azam Ali. The Washington Post described his compositions as “stirring”; the Beirut Times described him as one of the most versatile vocalists and Oud masters of the Middle East; and the Al Qabas newspaper of Kuwait described him as "a talented songwriter with a soothing voice that touches the heart".
A Jordanian of Palestinian decent, Naser Musa started playing Oud, a Middle Eastern lute, and studying Arabic music, at an early age while living in Amman, Jordan. He moved to the United States in 1982 and continued his studies of music at California Polytechnic University, Pomona, California. His artistic versatility and sense of musical adventure have enabled him to experiment with the blending of different musical elements and artistic styles. Throughout his career, his objective has been to combine Arabic maqams (melodic structures or series of phrases based on Arabic scales), with Western elements in order to present a style of Arabic music that is understood and appreciated by the Western listener. Naser Musa is in great demand as an Oud and vocal instructor, giving lectures at colleges and universities and organizing workshops. For many years now he has been on the faculty at both the Middle Eastern Music and Dance Camp in Mendocino, California and the Heartland Seminar of Arabic Music in Racine, Wisconsin. He also represented the Arab world in the World Culture Open in NYC.
Naser continues his heartfelt work as a peace activist by performing and promoting concerts and presentations with artists from all over the world, He performed his award winning song Salam at the United Nations ‘60th year celebration in 2004."
https://www.youtube.com/user/JANINIMUSIC
https://www.facebook.com/naserjanini
AND to catch a wonderful glimpse of Naser having fun while combining with other cultures in a LFL Sound Collectors show, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYQYW2lt20Q
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Cellist Evan Kahn has not performed on a Notes for Nourishment concert before, so the two broadcast times on September 21 will be his NFN debut, but we can promise that he will already be doing another one for us (in chamber music with piano and strings) on our November 15 broadcast! We grabbed this bio off his lovely website (EvanDKahn.com) so check it out:
Native to Los Angeles, cellist Evan Kahn has been praised as “a cellist deserved of serious listening” for bringing his “electrifying … nuanced and colorful” style to all of his collaborations, from concerti to chamber music to contemporary performances. Intensely passionate about new music and music of non-Western cultures, he has commissioned and premiered over 50 works by composers from around the world, including his father’s Cello Concerto.
Evan holds principal positions in four orchestras — principal cello in Symphony Silicon Valley, principal cello in Opera San Jose, and assistant principal cello in San Jose Chamber Orchestra and West Bay Opera. As cellist in the Lazuli String Quartet/Sutro Strings, Evan plays in many local chamber music concert series, and is a sought-after quartet and piano trio cellist in the San Francisco Bay Area. His Pittsburgh-based piano trio, Trio Rizi, won the top awards in the Silberman Chamber Music Competition and the Pittsburgh Concert Society Competition. Evan is also a resident cellist for several Bay Area music collectives and ensembles, such as After Everything, Mythica Foundation, and hip-hop band Ensemble Mik Nawooj.
As a soloist, he has performed with North State Symphony, Symphony Silicon Valley, the Veridian Symphony Orchestra, Segah Festival Orchestra, Diablo Symphony Orchestra, Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, Palo Alto Philharmonic, and Livermore-Amador Symphony, as well as the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic and San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra, after winning both institutions’ concerto competitions. In April/May 2018, he served as Artist-in-Residence with Performance Today at NPR, sharing some of his favorite works for cello and his philosophies on music and life. In February 2019, he was named Musical America’s New Artist of the Month.
Evan attended Aspen Music Festival on a fellowship, where he studied with Juilliard professor Darrett Adkins and played co-principal in the Aspen Academy of Conducting Orchestra, the Aspen Sinfonia Concertante, and the Aspen Philharmonic as an Orchestral Leadership Fellow. In summer 2016, he served as one of 40 student fellows in the Piatigorsky Cello Festival — fellows hand-picked from conservatories around the world — and in summer 2017, Evan attended the Taos School of Music to work with the Brentano, Borromeo, and Shanghai Quartets.
Evan received a Master’s in Chamber Music at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, studying with Jennifer Culp. He graduated with college and university honors from Carnegie Mellon University, studying with David Premo. Before college, he took lessons with LA Opera principal cellist John Walz and Lyris Quartet cellist Timothy Loo. Other important mentors include Paul Hersh, Thomas Loewenheim, Amos Yang, Ian Swensen, and Bonnie Hampton.
In addition to performing and teaching, Evan enjoys playing board games and watching British television. He plays on a cello by Italian luthier Carlo Carletti, c. 1900, and a bow made for cellist Lynn Harrell by archetier Paul Martin Siefried.
No comments:
Post a Comment