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DIARY: Weekend, October 4-6, 2024

by Daniel Hathaway

HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND: 

We list 21 events from Friday through Sunday, including multiple performances by several organizations. Visit our Concert Listings for details, and read previews on this page for

  • BlueWater Chamber Orchestra (Saturday at 7:30 at the Church of the Covenant, and Sunday at 4 at St. Noel Church)
  • Les Délices in “Moonlit Mozart” (Saturday at 7:30 at Disciples Church, and Sunday at 4 at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church
  • Conrad Tao premiering Adam Roberts’ Book of Flowers (pictured) on the Kent Keyboard Series (Sunday at 5 in Ludwig Recital Hall)
  • Salar Nader and Homayoun Sakhi bring Afghan music to Oberlin (Sunday at 7:30 in Finney Chapel).

INTERESTING READ:

The October issue of Gramophone includes a feature about Swedish violinist Johan Dalene, who has released a new album paying tribute to virtuoso icons from the past. Dalene won first prize in the 2017 Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition in Oberlin, after performing the Tchaikovsky concerto with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall. Click here to explore the issue.

WEEKEND ALMANAC: [Read More…]

Pre•Views & Features

Salar Nader and Homayoun Sakhi bring Afghan music to Oberlin

by Mike Telin

“I can’t wait to be back — Cleveland is like a second home,” tabla virtuoso Salar Nader said during a telephone conversation. “I have so many fond memories of performing at the Cleveland Museum of Art and in The Kite Runner at Cleveland Playhouse back in 2010. And of course working so many times with Jamey Haddad at the Bop Stop, Nighttown, and Tri-C JazzFest. And I love Oberlin — to be there with Homayoun and working with the students is going to be a beautiful thing.”

On Sunday, October 6 at 7:30 pm in Finney Chapel, Salar Nader and rubâb player Homayoun Sakhi will present a program featuring music of their Afghan homeland, pushing artistic boundaries that reflect their country’s position at the confluence of Persian, Central Asian, and Indian cultures. The program also includes Oberlin Conservatory’s Performance and Improvisation (PI) Ensemble, directed by Jamey Haddad.

On Saturday, October 5 at 1:00 pm, Nader and Sakhi will present a public master class in Stull Recital Hall. Click here for more information. Both events are free.

Nader said that Haddad has been a longtime friend and mentor since meeting in the Pyrenees Mountains of Spain in 2007. “World music DJ Shafi Saba brought us together, and it was like we were long-lost brothers by the time we played the show. Ever since then he has always been so welcoming. The thing that I learned from him and people like Stanley Clark, is that they all have a similar attitude when it comes to welcoming the different musics of the world.”

[Read on…]

Conrad Tao to premiere Adam Roberts’ Book of Flowers on Kent Keyboard Series

by Daniel Hathaway

A new collection of solo piano miniatures by Kent State University composition professor Adam Roberts will be unveiled by its dedicatee, Conrad Tao, during his upcoming solo recital on the Kent Piano Series on Sunday afternoon, October 6, at 5:00 pm in Ludwig Recital Hall.

Book of Flowers is a collection of sixteen character pieces for piano. Roberts writes in his composer notes that “each piece aims to capture a particular energy, from the playful and rhythmic, to the fragile and breakable, to the brutal and ferocious.”

I arranged for a recent Zoom conversation with the composer and the pianist to learn more about the project. Adam Roberts was in his studio at Kent State, and Conrad Tao was on tour in Iowa.

Daniel Hathaway: How did Book of Flowers come about?

Adam Roberts: I don’t usually just write pieces randomly, but I had written a couple of miniatures and for a long time I had yearned to write a book of my own piano music to see if I could get my language into that form. [Read on…]

See all previews

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