by Mike Telin
On Wednesday, March 16 at 7:30 pm in Gartner Auditorium, the Cleveland Museum of Arts Performing Arts Series will present Qasida, an astonishing musical collaboration between Sevillian flamenco cantaora Rosario La Tremendita and Iranian classical singer Mohammad Motamedi.
Created for the third Dutch Flamenco Biennale by festival Artistic Director Ernestina van de Noort (click here to view a promotional video), Qasida was described by writer Jan Fairley as a “contrast between the sheer beauty of flamenco’s distilled, passionate outpourings of the heart and the more inward, mystical philosophies of Persian poetry…” Following the Cleveland performances the show will travel to New York, Washington, D.C., and Boston. [Read more…]
50-foot-long string instruments; traditional music from the Republic of Kyrgyz, Ireland’s “Wild West,” and the Balkans; dialogues between deep flamenco song and Iranian classical music; Egyptian classical music of the golden age; an a cappella sound track to a silent film about Joan of Arc; two prominent string quartets, an organ recital, and a multifaceted violinist — that list gives just a quick rundown on the variety of concerts the Cleveland Museum of Art has planned for its 2015-2016 Performing Arts Series, both in Gartner Auditorium at the museum and at its near-West Side gallery, Transformer Station.