Concerts and Lectures Celebrating the New Galleries
Throughout the 2011–12 season, Metropolitan Museum Concerts will present an array of events in which a diverse selection of artists will perform music from, or inspired by, the regions and cultures represented in the New Galleries for the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia, opening November 1, 2011.
The acclaimed concert series marks its 58th season in 2011–2012.
The new galleries will house the Metropolitan Museum’s preeminent collection of its Department of Islamic Art—one of the most comprehensive gatherings of this material in the world—a completely renovated, expanded, and reinstalled suite of 15 galleries. The organization of the galleries by geographical area will emphasize the rich diversity of the Islamic world, over a span of 1,300 years, by underscoring the many distinct cultures within its fold.
Related concerts will include:
“Ecstatic Music!” Hassan Hakmoun Ensemble and Najmuddin Saifuddin Brothers Ensemble Perform Gnaoua and Qawwali Traditions
Two famed virtuoso artists and their ensembles perform hypnotic praise songs from North Africa and South Asia. Morocco’s Hassan Hakmoun Ensemble, representing the Gnaoua spiritual trance tradition, and Pakistan’s Najmuddin Saifuddin Brothers Ensemble, belonging to the Sufi Qawwali tradition, perform their distinctive music and come together for a specially created finale.
Saturday, October 29, 2011, at 7:00 p.m.
This program is generously supported by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.
The appearance of Qawal Najmuddin Saifuddin & Brothers is part of Caravanserai: A place where cultures meet. Caravanserai is a groundbreaking initiative designed to open and expand the dialogue between American communities and contemporary Muslim societies using the arts as a point of entry and is managed by Arts Midwest on behalf of the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations.
“Ecstatic Music!” Family Concert
The Hassan Hakmoun Ensemble and the Najmuddin Saifuddin Brothers Ensemble perform an hour-long family program highlighting aspects of the Gnaoua and Qawwali traditions, including drumming solos and acrobatic dancing.
Sunday, October 30, 2011, at 3:00 p.m.
This program is generously supported by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.
The appearance of Qawal Najmuddin Saifuddin & Brothers is part of Caravanserai: A place where cultures meet. Caravanserai is a groundbreaking initiative designed to open and expand the dialogue between American communities and contemporary Muslim societies using the arts as a point of entry and is managed by Arts Midwest on behalf of the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations.
Tablaphilia
A symphony for Indian tabla (drum) players and vocalists under the musical direction and conducting of tabla maestro and composer Samir Chatterjee. Tablaphilia interprets the four stages of life (asharamas) of Hindu philosophy— Bramhacharya, Garhastha, Banaprastha, and Sanyasa—through abstract drum language.
Monday, October 31, at 6:30 p.m. in The Great Hall
The Alwan Arab Music Ensemble at the Balcony Bar
The Alwan Arab Music Ensemble, comprised of six of the leading practitioners of Arab music in New York who sing and play a wide range of Arab musical styles on traditional instruments, will present performances of classical art music from Cairo, Aleppo, and Baghdad at the Museum’s Balcony Bar overlooking the Great Hall. The concerts are free with Museum admission.
Friday, November 4, and Saturday, November 5, 2011, at 5:30 p.m. at the Great Hall Balcony Bar
This program is generously supported by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.
In the Footsteps of Babur: Musical Encounters from the Lands of the Mughals
Featuring musicians Homayun Sakhi, Afghan rubab; Rahul Sharma, santur; Salar Nader, tabla and zerbaghali; Sirojiddin Juraev, dutar and tanbur; and Mukhtor Muborakqadomov, Badakhshani setar, this is a program of new music developed from an artistic collaboration supported by the Aga Khan Music Initiative. Inspired by visual images and literary descriptions of exuberant music-making in the Mughal courts, the Music Initiative brings together musicians from Afghanistan, India, and Tajikistan with the aim of merging their talents, traditions, and musical instruments to create new sounds.
Friday, December 9, at 7:00 p.m.
This event is presented in collaboration with the Aga Khan Music Initiative, a program of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert
The Museum’s acclaimed ensemble performs a program inspired by the new galleries: Strauss’s Four Pieces for Piano Quartet; Sulkhan Tsintsadze’s Miniatures for String Quartet; Vache Sharafyan’s Adumbrations of the Peacock for Piano Quartet (2003); a work by ensemble member Colin Jacobsen; and Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G Minor, Op. 57.
Saturday, December 17, 2011, at 7:00 p.m.
This concert is generously supported by the Brodsky Family Foundation.
Kaylan Kalhor
The internationally acclaimed virtuoso on the kamancheh (Persian bowed string instrument), known for his collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project, is a three-time Grammy nominee. He performs an evening of traditional Persian music.
Saturday, January 28, 2012, at 7:00 p.m.
Fazil Say
The acclaimed Turkish pianist and composer, known for his work with jazz as well as classical repertoire, performs a program featuring, in addition to Janáček’s Piano Sonata and Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 7, a number of his own works: Black Earth, Three Ballades, Paganini Jazz Variations, Inside Serail, Alla Turca Jazz, and Summertime Variations.
Friday, April 20, 2012, at 7:00 p.m.
Jordi Savall
The “early music superstar” (The New York Times) returns to the Metropolitan Museum with “La Lira D’Espéria,” a program of dances, lamentos, and stampitte in the Mediterranean cultures. Jordi Savall performs on the rebab, vielle, and lira, and is joined by Dimitri Psonis playing santur, morisca, and percussion.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012, at 7:00 p.m.
Cirène
An ensemble of some of New York’s best young artists—led by violinist Colin Jacobsen (Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert, The Knights, Brooklyn Rider)—Cirène reimagines timeless tales from around the world and crafts them into presentations of dance, music, and live painting and animation. For this family concert inspired by the new galleries, folktales of the region will be set to original music, dance, and live animation.
Saturday, June 16, 2012, at 3:00 p.m.
