MAY-JUNE 2002

Hossein Alizadeh & Madjid Khaladj: Masters of Persian Music

Hossein Alizadeh (tar)
Hossein Alizadeh was born in Tehran, in 1951. After graduating from the Music Conservatory, he entered the School of Music of the University of Tehran in 1975 where he received his degree in composition and performance. During the same period he studied with various Ostads of traditional Persian music such as Ali Akbar Khan Shahnazi, Nur Ali Borumand, Abdollah Davami, Mahmood Karimi and Houshang Zarif.  It is from these masters that he learned the radif of Persian classical music.  Alizadeh was awarded a position with the National Orchestra of Iran and later became the conductor and soloist of the Iranian National Orchestra of Radio and Television.  He founded the Aref Ensemble and performed with the Shayda Ensemble, both dedicated to the promotion and advancement of Persian classical music.  Alizadeh participated in the orchestra of the famous Bejart Ballet Company in a performance of Gulistan, a ballet by Maurice Bejart.  In the early 1980's, he further expanded his formal education by studying composition and musicology at the University of Berlin.  In 2000 the Ministry of Culture in Iran declared him the best contemporary artist.  As a teacher he has trained many young musicians and has written and published a number of etudes for tar and setar. He has composed many works of contemporary and neo-classical Persian music including Hessar, Ney Nava and Song of Compassion as well as several film scores including Gabbah and A Time for Drunken Horses.  In addition, he has recorded the entire body of the radif  based on the interpretation of Mirza Abdullah.  He has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia and has appeared on many radio and television programs around the world. He has taught at the University of Tehran, The Tehran Music Conservatory and California Institute of the Arts.

Madjid Khaladj (tombak)
Madjid Khaladj is recognized as one of today's leading Iranian percussionists. In 1984 he was invited to teach Iranian percussion at the Center for Oriental Music Studies at the Music Institute of Paris-Sorbonne and in 1996 he founded the "Ecole de Tombak " (Center of Iranian Percussion Studies) in Paris. Since 1999 he has also taught at Basel's Music Academy in Switzerland. He regularly travels throughout the world performing at festivals and concert halls and has several recordings available.

Tour dates:

Friday, May 31

Washington DC
tba

Saturday, June 1

New York City
Symhony Space
95thStreet & Broadway
212-545-7536
Tkts/Info 212-545-7536
(presented by World Music Institute)
www.worldmusicinstitute.org

June 2
tba

Friday, June 7

Cleveland, OH
Cleveland Museum of Art
11150 Boulevard East
Tkts/Info 216-421-7340
www.clevelandart.org

Saturday, June 8

San Diego, CA
Neurosciences Institute
10640 John Jay Hopkins Drive
La Jolla, CA
Tkts/Info 619-688-0688
(presented by Center for World Music & Zaman Productions and Persian Cultural Center)
www.centerforworldmusic.org

Sunday, June 9th. 7:30pm
San Francisco, CA
Julia Morgan Center for the Arts
2640 College Avenue
Berkeley, CA
Tkts/Info 415 242-4085
(presented by San Francisco World Music Festival)

Friday June 14, 8pm
Los Angeles, CA
UCLA Freud Playhouse (on campus)
Enter the East side of campus at Wyton Dr. from Hilgard Ave. turn right on Charles Young Drive. Attendants and signs will direct you to Parking Structure #3.
(presented by UCLA School of the Arts & World Music Institute)