A Preview of The Prisoner

The premiere performance of The Prisoner at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music was previewed in the Santa Cruz Sentinel and in the short video introduction above, which explains the inspiration for the work.

Musiqa 2017–2018 season announced

Houston’s premier new music presenting organization Musiqa recently announced its exciting 2017–2018 season.

Bodies in Motion
September 23 | 7:30 pm
The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts Zilkha Hall,

Musiqa and Open Dance Project present a compelling evening of world premieres featuring KINETIC, the conductorless orchestra. Highlights of the program include two new pieces choreographed by Open Dance Project Artistic Director Annie Arnoult to riveting works for string orchestra by Musiqa composers Pierre Jalbert and Marcus Maroney. Plus guest artist Jane Weiner, founder and artistic director of Hope Stone Dance, choreographs Lonely Suite (Ballet for Lonely Violinist). Rounding out the program are Arnoult’s celebrated piece Stalemate with music by Andrew Bird, and Silent Moon, a duo for violin and cello, by composer Augusta Read Thomas.

Musical and Literary Ofrenda
November 2 | 5:30 pm
Lawndale Art Center

Musiqa celebrates the Mexican “Day of the Dead” with our annual five-way collaboration Musical and Literary Ofrenda at Lawndale Art Center. This free event is a collaboration with River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, Lawndale Arts Center, Inprint, and the Houston Hispanic Forum — all promoted by The Mexican Consulate. The five original musical “ofrendas” (offerings) — commissioned by ROCO from Musiqa composers — are woven amongst four original prose texts by Inprint authors, surrounded by the beautiful retablos (alterpieces) on display at Lawndale.

Looking Back in Time
January 13, 2018 | 7:30 pm
MATCH Box 4 / Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston

Travel back time and to other worlds in this program featuring works by Musiqa composers for chamber orchestra. Journey to the dawn of man with Maternity, an oratorio by Musiqa Artistic Director Anthony Brandt with libretto by frequent collaborator David Eagleman; to the banks of the Sea of Galilee in Pierre Jalbert’s Transcendental Windows inspired by Tiffany stained glass; and the fanciful, otherworldly, Visions from Another World by Karim Al-Zand. The concert features a reading by Dr. Eagleman, bestselling author of “Sum” and “Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain.” Loop38 performs, with conductor Jerry Hou and soprano Karol Bennett.

The Moving Image
March 3, 2018 | 7:30 pm
MATCH Box 4 / Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston

Experience modern cinema and music like never before. The program features cutting-edge films with live music including Anna Clyne’s Steelworks, a sonic tour de force that is edgy, individual and compelling inspired by visual artist Luke DuBois’ reimagining of the 1936 industrial film Steel: A Symphony of Industry. The evening also features Michael Gandolfi’s serene and jazzy meditation the history of the world in seven acts, a multimedia collaboration featuring the dancing animations of Jonathan Bachrach, plus short films with scores by Reena Esmail and Grawemeyer award-winning composer Michel van der Aa.

Playing Havoc
April 13, 2018 | 7:30 pm
MATCH Box 2 / Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston

Musiqa presents Playing Havoc featuring Voices from the Killing Jar by Pulitzer Prize finalist, composer/performer Kate Soper. Part monodrama, part song-cycle, part opera, Voices from the Killing Jar crosses a volatile musical landscape populated by a series of female protagonists, among them housewives, teenagers, and mothers and daughters; innocents and tragic heroines; and femmes fatales. From Madame Bovary’s passionate whirlwind of delusion, to Lady Macduff’s terrified lullaby, to Clytemnestra’s hypnotic and deadly rage, each one is brought to vivid and unforgettable life as Soper’s mercurial voice traces a path through their stories.

Cabrillo premiere of The Prisoner approaches

As its premiere performance on August 12th at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music approaches, The Prisoner and festival director Cristian Măcelaru have been previewed in the San Francisco Classical Voice, The Mercury News, Good Times, and The Santa Cruz Sentinel. Tickets (and program notes) are available on the Cabrillo Festival website.

The Prisoner to premiere at Cabrillo Festival

Cristian Măcelaru, conductor and newly appointed director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, will present the world premiere of The Prisoner, a new work for bass voice and orchestra. The piece was commissioned by Măcelaru and the Cabrillo Festival and will feature renowned bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu. The premiere performance of this 30-minute work will conclude the two week festival on August 12th, 2017.

Jonathan Lemalu, bass

The Prisoner tells the story of Adnan Latif, one of the first men imprisoned in the US Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp in 2002. Its text is drawn from Latif’s own letters, sent to his lawyer while in captivity, and from other literary sources, including poems of Rilke, Al-Ma‘arri, Rūmī and the Book of Psalms. Latif was unjustly imprisoned. Never charged with a crime, he was held at Guantánamo for more than ten years and endured daily torture and near constant abuse. Although cleared for release by several courts and military tribunals, he remained in custody until his death under mysterious circumstances in 2012. Latif’s affecting letters were collected by human rights lawyer David Remes, and his poetry is contained in the 2007 anthology Poems from Guantánamo. The Prisoner alternates the words of Latif, set to music in a dramatic narrative style, with songs reflecting on his tragic plight.

Adnan Latif’s Story
In late 2001 Adnan Latif travelled to Pakistan from his home in Yemen seeking affordable medical treatment.The 26-year-old had been experiencing neurological problems brought on by head injuries suffered in a car accident. In December Latif was caught up in a dragnet of young Arab men along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border, undertaken by bounty hunters in the aftermath of 9/11. In exchange for a reward, he was handed over to us authorities in 2002 and transferred to the newly opened Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp.

Adnan Latif (1974–2012)

While there, Latif was subjected to repeated and prolonged torture, beatings, psychological abuse and extreme deprivation. With other prisoners he participated in an extended hunger strike, during which inmates were painfully force-fed, and he attempted suicide on numerous occasions. Latif was held for almost 11 years without charge. According to documents, military tribunals had concluded multiple times that he posed no threat, and that there was no evidence to justify his continuing incarceration. He was cleared for release by officials as early as 2004 and again in 2007. A further court ruling in 2010 ordered the administration to “take all necessary and appropriate diplomatic steps to facilitate Latif’s release.” On each occasion his release was denied, first by the Bush administration and later, by the Obama administration. In September of 2012 Latif was found dead in his cell, the ninth prisoner to die at Guántanamo. An autopsy was performed but its results are classified. A year later his body was returned to Yemen, to his wife and now 14-year old son. Forty-one prisoners remain at Guantánamo today. President Trump has pledged to add to its prison population, Attorney General Jeff Sessions calling it “a very fine place.”

Luctus Profugis featured on Houston Public Media

The second episode of Encore Houston presents KINETIC, the conductorless ensemble in their season-opening concert of 2016, “Illuminations.” a concert which began with the premiere of Luctus Profugis. Encore Houston, hosted by Joshua Zinn, airs Saturdays at 10 pm, with a repeat broadcast Sundays at 4 PM, all on Houston Public Media Classical.

Duo for Flute and Cello performed at MFAH

What characterizes American classical music today? The Da Camera Young Artists explore this question at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston in a concert entitled “Defining America”. The performance features the music of living American composers Angélica Negrón, Jason Treuting, and Karim Al-Zand’s Duo for Flute and Cello. Performances are free and take place in the exhibition’s galleries at 2pm and 3pm on Saturday, February 4th. Performers include Amanda Galick, flute and Sonya Matoussova, cello.

Ring the Bells at Break of Day premièred by the Shepherd School of Music Symphony Orchestra

Ring the Bells at Break of Day was written to mark the 40th anniversary of the Shepherd School of Music, as part of a project to commission each of the school’s faculty composers on this auspicious occasion. The piece is a short, joyful and celebratory work, which commemorates the outstanding music-making that has flourished over the school’s history. The piece was premièred on December 2, 2016 under the direction of Larry Rachleff.

And, oh, the bells at break of day
That roused us, ringing merrily!
—John Morgan (1889)

I wrote Ring the Bells at Break of Day while living in Rome in 2016, and it features a stately chorale tune, Inni e canti [Hymns and Songs], which rang daily from a bell tower across the street. The graceful hymn is interrupted by a quick, punchy theme in the winds (and later, strings)—perhaps the sounds of street bustle and frenetic motor traffic. Eventually the majestic chorale returns: in a solo horn, a short fugato, and finally in combination with the ecstatic, lively music. The piece closes with the jubilant pealing of bells.

Kinetic presents premiere of Luctus Profugis

Kinetic, the dynamic conductorless string orchestra led by Natalie Lin, performed the world premiere of Luctus Profugis on October 16, 2016. The performance, at the MATCH theater in Houston, was as part of its “Illuminations” concert, also featuring works by Britten and Schoenberg’s Verlärte Nacht. The concert was also attended by member of various Houston refugee relief agencies and advocates, including PAIR Houston.

Luctus Profugis is a lament that reflects on the current European refugee crisis. The title translates roughly from the Latin as “Grief for the Displaced.” The word “profugus” has a connection to the opening lines of Virgil’s “Aeneid,” which describes one of the earliest refugees: Aeneas fleeing the Trojan war to the shores of Italy. In Luctus Profugis, the percussionist at the heart of the ensemble plays a simple three-note motive that repeats for the duration of the piece. Its persistence symbolizes for me the refugees’ journey, their tenacity, courage and resilience.

The current European refugee crisis started in 2015, when tens of thousands of migrants began fleeing their war ravaged homes to seek asylum in the West. Displaced families, primarily from Syria and other areas of conflict, endured perilous journeys to reach safe destinations in the EU. The most dangerous routes have included crossings of the Eastern Mediterranean to ports in Greece and Italy. Thousands of migrants are estimated to have perished at sea. In the United States, which arguably has played the largest role in catalyzing the migration, the reaction to the crisis has been characterized politically by inaction and fear-mongering. Governors in 26 states (including Texas) have refused to settle Syrian asylum seekers. To date, the US has settled 0.05% of the total number of refugees. Canada and Germany have settled over 19 times that number. It is my hope that Luctus Profugis serves as not only an elegy, but also a call to action.

Whirling Dervish at the Kennedy Center

Violinist Natalie Lin and pianist David Mamedov performed the final movement of Imaginary Scenes on February 20th, in Washington, DC as part of the Shepherd School of Music’s contribution to the Kennedy Center’s Conservatory Project. View the terrific performance of Whirling Dervish above.

Natalie_Lin

Măcelaru to present European première of City Scenes

The wonderful young conductor Cristian Măcelaru, currently Conductor-in-Residence with the Philadelphia Orchestra, will present the European première of City Scenes on February 12, 2016 with the Romanian Radio Orchestra.City_Scenes_Romania

Musiqa Awarded Second “Adventurous Programming” Award from CMA/ASCAP

Musiqa has just been honored with an “Adventurous Programming” Award from Chamber Music America and ASCAP, its second such award in three years. Three ensembles and four presenters were selected to receive 2016 CMA/ASCAP Awards, which will be presented at the Chamber Music America National Conference on Sunday, January 10, 2016 at the Westin New York at Times Square in New York City. Cia Toscanini, vice president of concert music, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), will present the awards. Established jointly by Chamber Music America and ASCAP, the annual awards recognize U.S.-based professional ensembles and presenters for distinctive programming of music composed within the past 25 years. The recipients, chosen by an independent panel of classical and jazz chamber music professionals, were evaluated on the basis of their programming and innovations in attracting audiences to performances of new music. Musiqa

SOLI concert in San Antonio features Swimmy

Classical Voice North America (Journal of the Music Critics Association of North America) reviews SOLI Chamber Ensemble’s October 5th opening concert, which featured a program of works by Pierre Jalbert, Anthony Brant and my piece Swimmy, narrated by Texas Public Radio’s Nathan Cone.

Al-Zand deftly embodies in music the spirit, delicacy, and subtle colors of Lionni’s illustrations (projected on a screen for this performance). Especially delicious are the rhythmically cockeyed walk of a lobster and the serpentine gliding of an eel “whose tail was almost too far away to remember.”

swimmy_SOLI

Tagoriana CD reviewed in Italy

tagoriana
The September issue of La Tenda, a monthly cultural magazine based in Teramo, Italy, reviewed Tagoriana, a CD on Albany Records that includes my Tagore Love Songs. The recording features mezzo-soprano Aidan Soder, baritone Paul Busselberg and pianist Calogero Di Liberto.

…Al-Zand chiude la Tagoriana con la sua giovanile immediatezza e la sua inventiva melodica che non rinuncia alla tradizione liederistica e si compenetra perfettamente con i testi da lui scelti.

…Al-Zand closes out Tagoriana with a youthful immediacy and melodic invention that does not reject the lieder tradition and perfectly interprets his chosen texts.

SOLI perform Swimmy on Musiqa’s Opening Night at MATCH

swimmySan Antonio’s SOLI Chamber Ensemble performs Swimmy on Musiqa‘s October 10th concert at the new Midtown Arts and Theatre Center (MATCH). A preview feature appears in the Houston Chronicle. The narrator will be actor Seán Patrick Judge. Other pieces on the program include works by Anthony Brandt, Pierre Jalbert, Marcus Maroney and Carl Schimmel. Performances of this same program will also take place in San Antonio on October 6th and 7th with narrator Nathan Cone.

New CD by Museaux Trio

The Museaux Trio (Syndey Carlson, flute; Denise Fujikawa, harp; and Brian Quincey, viola) have just released their debut CD, which includes a recording of Studies in Nature, a work commissioned for them. The piece is inspired by the illustrations of biologist and artist Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919). His seminal Kunstformen der Natur (1899–1904) features beautiful, elegant renderings of newly discovered sea organisms. A species of radiolaria appears on the CD cover (below). The recording is released on Albany Records and is available for download at iTunes and Amazon.

Museaux

Review of Paganimania in Fanfare

 


A new review of Christopher Janwong McKiggan‘s CD Paganimania appeared in the recent Fanfare online blog. The CD features the premiere recording of Paganini Reverie.

Article in Symphony Magazine

The Summer 2015 edition of SYMPHONY, the quarterly magazine published by the League of American Orchestras, features an article by Thomas May entitled A New East-West Polyphony, which highlights composers who are “drawing on their Arabic, Turkish, and Iranian roots to enrich America’s orchestral life.” The Houston Symphony’s performance of my City Scenes is mentioned, as is the work of Mohammed Fairouz, Fawzi Haimor, Mariam Adam, Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol, Kinan Azmeh, Kareem Roustom, Malek Jandali, and Reza Vali.

Paganini Reverie Film

Richie Hawley of Little Frenchie Filmhouse has just released a new film featuring pianist Christopher Janwong McKiggan playing my Paganini Reverie. The film’s visual style is an homage to Alfred Hitchcock, specifically his 1959 film North by Northwest. Hawley is the former principal clarinetist of the Cincinnati Symphony and a current faculty colleague at the Shepherd School of Music. His films are always lively and kinetic, elegantly filmed, produced and—most significantly—eminently musical. Chris McKiggan is a virtuosic young pianist whose musical versatility and innovative programming of new works are hallmarks of his artistic style. His recording of Paganini Reverie can be found on his CD Paganimania.

Paganini_Chris

Edmonton Symphony Orchestra plays Visions

macelaruThe Edmonton Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2015–2016 season, which will include an April 30th, 2016 performance of Visions from Another World, under the direction of Cristian Macelaru, Associate Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra. An announcement of the season appears in the Edmonton Journal. Also on the program is Brahms’s Symphony No. 3 and Elmer Bernstein’s Guitar Concerto.

Contact Info:

alzand@rice.edu
Rice University
Shepherd School of Music
MS 532
6100 Main St.
Houston TX 77005-1892
(713) 348-3740
www.alzand.com

Links:

YouTube Channel
Lulu storefront
Shepherd School of Music
Musiqa
iTunes
Amazon
© 2015 KARIM AL-ZAND