MATA PRESENTS
2024
MATA Presents: Echoes of Gusan
at Carnegie Hill Concerts
Tuesday, October 1, 2024 at 7:30 PM
Church of Advent Hope
111 E. 87th Street
New York, NY 10128
Music by Ramin Heydarbeygi and Reza Vali
Featuring:
Sara Paar, Soprano
and
FLUX Quartet:
Tom Chiu, Violin
Conrad Harris, Violin
Max Mandel, Viola
Felix Fan, Cello
Embark in an evening of music inspired by the ancient to modern voices of Persian Poetry and Medieval Music.
“The New Song Cycle” by Ramin Heydarbeygi draws on medieval and contemporary poetry from Iran. The texts are compiled as a quasi-monodrama expressing love, lust, and eroticism with poetry from the ninth century to the present, including poems by Mahsati, Rabe’eh, Jahan Malek, Sanai, and, contemporary poet, Parvin Salajegheh. Sung in Persian, the song cycle is commissioned by soprano Sara Paar. Other works on the program include an earlier song cycle, “Gusan”, with poetry by, the blind poet and harpist from the ninth century, Rudaki; and the world premiere of “Muye baray Farzin” for solo viola, a work composed during the pandemic.
Reza Vali’s works draw on music-theoretical works by the great 13th-century Iranian medieval music theorist Safi Al din Ormavi (also known as “Urmawi” in Turkey and “Al Urmawi” in Arabic-speaking cultures). His “String Quartet No. 5, Gavesht” presented in this program is composed based on the tuning system and the modes found in Ormavi’s treatises on music.
The PROGRAM:
Ramin Heydarbeygi
“Gusan” for soprano, violin and violoncello
String Quartet for two violins, viola and cello
“Muye baray Farzin” for solo viola
(world premiere)
“A new song cycle”
Commissioned by Sara Paar and made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
——————————
Reza Vali
String Quartet No. 5, “Gavesht”
I. Gavesht 1
II. Zirafkand 1
III. Kavâsht 1
IV. Kavâsht 2
V. Gavesht 2
VI. Zirafkand 2
2024 MATA Presents Artists
Ramin Heydarbeygi
Critics have described Ramin Heydarbeygi’s music as “rich and expressive,” and “honest, direct and uncompromising,” with a “unique artistic voice . . . well crafted, probing, and rich in content.”
His music has been performed in Iran and throughout the US, and featured at international music festivals, including the Silk Road Modern, Icebreaker III Festival, and Festival of Modern Music; and by String Noise, Da Capo Chamber Players, Cygnus Ensemble, Seattle Chamber Players, Dr. Faustus Project, Anti-Depressant, Bronx Arts Ensemble, Transit, Ensemble 365, Carnegie Hill Chamber Players, among others.
He was the founding music director and conductor of the Barbad Chamber Orchestra based in New York City. With the Barbad Chamber Orchestra, he conducted a wide range of music from historically informed performances of the Baroque to premieres by composers of our time.
Under his direction, the Barbad presented numerous world, US, and New York premieres by contemporary composers from around the world, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, Georgia, Hungary, Iran, Sweden, Ukraine, and the US, among others, and recorded for the Capstone label.
Ramin Heydarbeygi’s music is strongly influenced by Iranian aesthetics, especially the concise, intricate, interwoven artistry found in Persian poetry and miniature paintings. Inspired by its beauty and complexity, he has exclusively set Persian poetry to his
vocal and choral music.
Reza Vali
was born in Ghazvin, Iran, in 1952. He began his music studies at the Conservatory of Music in Tehran.
In 1972 he went to Austria and studied music education and composition at the Academy of Music in Vienna. After graduating from the Academy of Music, he moved to the United States and continued his studies at the University of Pittsburgh, receiving his Ph.D. in music theory and composition in 1985.
Mr. Vali has been a faculty member of the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University since 1988. He has received numerous honors and commissions, including the honor prize of the Austrian Ministry of Arts and Sciences, two Andrew W. Mellon Fellowships, commissions from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Kronos Quartet, the Carpe Diem String Quartet, the Seattle Chamber Players, and the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, as well as grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Pittsburgh Foundation, and the Pittsburgh Board of Public Education.
He was selected by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust as the Outstanding Emerging Artist for which he received the Creative Achievement Award. Vali’s orchestral compositions have been performed in the United States by the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Baltimore Symphony, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra 2001.
His chamber works have received performances by Cuarteto Latinoamericano, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Carpe Diem String Quartet, the Kronos Quartet, the Seattle Chamber Players, and the Da Capo Chamber Players. His music has been performed in Europe, China, Chile, Mexico, Hong Kong, and Australia and is recorded
on the Deutsche Grammophon, Naxos, New Albion, MMC, Ambassador, Albany, and
ABC Classics labels.
Sara Paar
Acclaimed as “sensitive to every expression in the text” (New York Concert Review), soprano Sara Paar is an interpreter of contemporary classical music and opera. Ms. Paar is a favorite with composers throughout the United States and has been admired for her beautiful voice, stirring and inherent sense of drama, her sensitive interpretations, and exquisite attention to detail.
Ms. Paar has performed both traditional and new works with New York-based ensembles including Ensemble 365, Chelsea Opera, S.E.M. Ensemble, and The Choral Society of the Hamptons. In addition, she has enjoyed premiering and performing the works of Tom Cipullo, Clarice Assad, Polina Nazaykinskaya, David Wolfson, Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Marga Richter, and many others.
Ms. Paar received a doctoral degree in performance from The Graduate Center, City University of New York in June 2017. Her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Vocal Performance were earned from Binghamton University and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, respectively, and her major teachers have included Stephanie Samaras, Monica Harte, Mary Burgess, and Kathryn Proctor-Duax. Ms. Paar is proud to serve as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors for the New York Women Composers, Inc. and on the music faculty at Fordham University.
FLUX Quartet
The FLUX Quartet, "one of the most fearless and important new-music ensembles around" (San Francisco Chronicle), has performed to rave reviews in venues worldwide, including the Tate Modern with BBC Radio3, Park Avenue Armory, Kennedy Center, Mount Tremper Arts, EMPAC, Walker Art Center, Carnegie's Zankel Hall, as well as international festivals in Australia, Europe and Asia. It has also premiered new works on numerous experimental incubators, including Roulette, The Music Gallery, and Mount Tremper Arts. FLUX’s radio appearances include NPR’s All Things Considered, WNYC’s New Sounds and Soundcheck, and WFMU’s Stochastic Hit Parade. The group’s discography includes recordings on the Cantaloupe, Innova, New World, Passin Thru, and Tzadik labels, in addition to two acclaimed releases on Mode encompassing the full catalogue of Morton Feldman’s output for string quartet.
Strongly influenced by the "anything-goes" philosophy of the fluxus art movement, violinist Tom Chiu founded FLUX in the late 90's. The quartet has since cultivated an uncompromising repertoire that combines late twentieth-century iconoclasts such as Cage, Nancarrow, Scelsi, and Ligeti with today's visionaries, including Oliver Lake, Michael Hersch, David First, Alvin Lucier, Michael Schumacher, Sean Shepard, Wadada Leo Smith, Julia Wolfe, Matthew Welch, and others. Having premiered over 100 new works, FLUX has been awarded grants from the American Composers Forum, Aaron Copland Fund, Meet-The-Composer, New Music USA, and Chamber Music America. FLUX also discovers emerging composers from its many college residencies, including Wesleyan, Dartmouth, Williams, Princeton, Bard, and the College of William and Mary.
The spirit to expand stylistic boundaries is a trademark of the FLUX Quartet, and to that end the quartet avidly pursues interdisciplinary projects, resulting in acclaimed new works with choreographers Pam Tanowitz and Christopher Wheeldon, avant balloonist Judy Dunaway, digital collective The OpenEnded Group, and visual artist Matthew Barney. In the upcoming season, FLUX will perform and record the full string quartet output of Toshi Ichiyanagi, widely acknowledged as an influential pioneer of the Japanese avant-garde.