Duke Performances: Kayhan Kalhor

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Kayhan Kalhor

PRESS RELEASE:

In compassion for those who were lost during January’s accidental downing of a Ukrainian airliner by Iranian forces, Iranian kamancheh (Persian bowed stringed instrument) virtuoso, Kayhan Kalhor, stood in front of a Tehran audience and said, “I think we should be beside you, feeling the energy from each other and improve the harsh and violent situation…Serious music and serious art should never stop.” These types of music deeds, while driven by the societal healing powers of the Kurdish folk music that the six-time GRAMMY-nominated composer began studying at the age of seven, also owe themselves to the power of cross-cultural collaboration. Following the release of his 1998 debut Scattering Stars Like Dust, Kalhor began melding traditional Iranian arrangements with improvisational through lines, lending his sound and experimental vision, over the years, most notably to Yo-Yo Ma’s enduring and GRAMMY-winning Silk Road Ensemble, the New York Philharmonic, Kronos Quartet, and string quartet Brooklyn Rider. In 2019, Kalhor partnered with the Rembrandt Frerichs Trio for It’s Still Autumn, praised by NPR Music as a “magical two-part outing,” where Kalhor’s atmospheric kamancheh playing harnesses the trio’s distinctive and boundless sound.

— Eric Tullis