Meyer Auditorium Concert Series

Three centuries of music for Japanese koto are performed by virtuoso Reiko Kimura in this concert, recorded at the Freer Gallery on January 15, 1998. Compositions range from the exquisitely delicate to the rambunctiously adventuresome, and feature both the traditional thirteen-string koto and the contemporary twenty-string koto. This concert was presented in cooperation with Music From Japan, Inc. (New York) as part of the Music From Japan Festival 1998. Four years earlier, Kimura joined the New York Philharmonic Orchestra as guest koto player for the premiere of Minoru Miki's Symphony of Two Worlds at Lincoln Center. See images, program notes and related artwork at http://www.asia.si.edu/podcasts

Hear the driving rhythms and vocal gymnastics of qawwali, Sufi music from South Asia, performed by an ensemble based in Ajmer Sharif, one of India's most sacred Sufi shrines. Present throughout much of the Islamic world, Sufis seek to personally experience the divine through music, poetry, self-discipline, and contemplation. The Chishty order of Sufis was founded in India in the thirteenth century. This recording was made live in concert at the Meyer Auditorium on April 30, 2011. See images, program notes and related artwork at http://www.asia.si.edu/podcasts

Immerse yourself in sacred choral music from seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe, performed by Lisbon's outstanding Gulbenkian Choir. This performance was held in conjunction with the exhibition Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries, which was on view at the Sackler Gallery in 2007. The program features Baroque church music that parallels the Christian artwork created under Portuguese influence in India, China, and Japan. Included are works by Portuguese composers Pero de Gamboa and Francisco António de Almeida, as well as famed Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti, who spent nine years as royal chapel master to the King of Portugal. This performance was recorded on June 23, 2007, in conjunction with the exhibition Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries. It was made possible, in part, through the generous support of the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. See images, program notes and related artwork at http://www.asia.si.edu/podcasts

Iranian-born vocalist Mamak Khadem, formerly of the Persian-fusion band Axiom of Choice, performs songs inspired by melodies from Armenia, Kurdistan, Baluchistan, and Turkey, as well as music from Iran. Her ensemble features Ole Mathisen, clarinet and saxophone; Jamshied Sharifi, keyboard; Hamid Saeidi, santur (hammered dulcimer); and Ben Wittman, percussion. This performance was recorded in concert at the Freer Gallery on March 7, 2009, as part of the Freer and Sackler's celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year. See images, program notes and related artwork at http://www.asia.si.edu/podcasts

Grammy Award nominee Shujaat Khan is one of the leading exponents of Indian classical music. On the occasion of India's fiftieth anniversary of independence, he performed at New York's Carnegie Hall and for the United Nations at Assembly Hall in Geneva, Switzerland. He also has appeared at Royal Albert Hall in London, Royce Hall in Los Angeles, and Congress Hall in Berlin. With the innovative Indo-Persian trio Ghazal, he earned a Grammy nomination in 2004 for the group's third recording, Rain. This performance was recorded in concert at the Freer Gallery on April 30, 2010. See images, program notes and related artwork at http://www.asia.si.edu/podcasts

Japanese composer Sukeyasu Shiba leads his Reigakusha ensemble in a performance of original and reconstructed music for the ancient royal ensemble known as gagaku. A longtime member of the gagaku orchestra for the Imperial Household Agency, Shiba composes works that revitalize a highly ritualized musical repertoire rarely heard in the West. This performance was part of the thirty-fifth anniversary celebration of Music From Japan, based in New York City, and marked that organization's twelfth annual program at the Freer Gallery. Recorded in concert February 24, 2010. See images, program notes and related artwork at http://www.asia.si.edu/podcasts

This piano performance explores the influence of American expatriate artist James McNeill Whistler on the music of French composer Claude Debussy, as well as their mutual connections to Japan. Whistler borrowed the title of Frédéric Chopin's piano nocturnes of the 1830s for his nighttime landscapes of the 1870s, which in turn inspired Debussy's orchestral nocturnes of the 1890s. In addition, both Whistler and Debussy admired Japanese woodblock prints and incorporated them into their work. This concert, by the young Lithuanian-born pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute, was recorded as part of the Bill and Mary Meyer Concert Series at the Freer Gallery of Art on March 4, 2004.

One of the giants of Indian classical music made his first Smithsonian appearance since 1994 for this concert, recorded on September 24, 2009. During the thirty years of his international career, L. Subramaniam has performed with jazz artists Stéphane Grapelli, Herbie Hancock, and Jean-Luc Ponty, as well as the New York Philharmonic; written film scores for Salaam Bombay! and Mississippi Masala; earned a Grammy nomination; and received the revered title of Padma Bhushan from the president of India. See images, program notes and related artwork at http://www.asia.si.edu/podcasts

Hear the exhilarating music of the late Japanese composer Tadao Sawai and his son Hikaru Sawai, performed by this twenty-piece ensemble of traditional Japanese instruments. Kazue Sawai and her ensemble have collaborated with such composers as John Zorn, John Cage, and Sofia Gubaidulina, and appeared at Lincoln Center and the Bang on a Can Festival in New York. This performance took place in the Freer Gallerys Meyer Auditorium on May 4, 2001, and was co-sponsored by the Embassy of Japan. Recorded in concert at the Meyer Auditorium, Freer Gallery of Art, on March 4, 2001. See images, program notes and related artwork at http://www.asia.si.edu/podcasts

Enjoy a recital by the Paris-based Iranian virtuoso Bahman Panahi, who made his American debut in 2009 at Harvard University. He is one of the leading exponents of Persian classical music, an improvisational tradition related to the ragas of India. Trained in calligraphy as well as music, Panahi has appeared in concerts and workshops throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe, and has performed at Carnegie Hall. This concert was recorded in the Freer Gallery's Meyer Auditorium on Friday, October 30, 2009, in conjunction with the exhibition Falnama: The Book of Omens. See images, program notes and related artwork at http://www.asia.si.edu/podcasts

Enjoy a recital by the Paris-based Iranian virtuoso Bahman Panahi, who made his American debut in 2009 at Harvard University. He is one of the leading exponents of Persian classical music, an improvisational tradition related to the ragas of India. Trained in calligraphy as well as music, Panahi has appeared in concerts and workshops throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe, and has performed at Carnegie Hall. This concert was recorded in the Freer Gallery's Meyer Auditorium on Friday, October 30, 2009, in conjunction with the exhibition Falnama: The Book of Omens. See images, program notes and related artwork at http://www.asia.si.edu/podcasts

Hear the world premiere of Vivian Fung's String Quartet no. 2, commissioned by the Shanghai Quartet, along with Mozart's String Quartet no. 15 and Beethoven's monumental Quartet opp. 130/133, performed by one of the world's leading chamber music ensembles. The Shanghai Quartet has appeared annually at the Freer Gallery of Art since 1996. One of their recent performances inspired the Washington Post to applaud their "self-effacing beauty of sound . . . gorgeous tone with an unwavering unanimity of expressive intent . . . a musical conversation of stunning authenticity and presence." This concert was recorded before a live audience as part of the Bill and Mary Meyer Concert Series on April 23, 2009. See images, program notes and related artwork at http://www.asia.si.edu/podcasts

Travel to the Ottoman Empire through the music of composer, scholar, and diplomat Dimitrie Cantemir (16731723), a flamboyant and brilliant figure who served four Ottoman sultans and Russia's Tsar Peter the Great. Cantemir's treatise on Turkish classical music included more than three hundred fifty original compositions. After he led an ill-fated rebellion against the Ottomans in his native Moldavia, he escaped to Moscow where he organized lavish musical events with his daughter, a harpsichordist trained in the Italian style. Turkish instrumentalists Neva zgen and Murat Aydemir join the baroque music ensemble Lux Musica to recreate the sounds of Cantemir's Moldavian homeland and his careers in Istanbul and Moscow. Recorded live in concert at the Meyer Auditorium, Freer Gallery of Art, on June 11, 2009. See images, program notes and related artwork at http://www.asia.si.edu/podcasts

Iraqi-American jazz artist Amir ElSaffar leads this cross-cultural quintet in a live concert rendition of Two Rivers, an original multi-movement work inspired by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the current strife in Iraq, and the common ground between American jazz and Iraqi classical music. ElSaffar sets the modes of Arab music to innovative grooves, free ensemble playing, and multilayered sound textures, resulting in a work that the BBC praises as "harrowing to absorb, full of as much beauty as pain." He performs on trumpet, santur, and vocals, along with Rudresh Mahanthappa, saxophone; Nasheet Waits, drums; Carlo De Rosa, bass; and Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone. This concert was made possible, in part, with support from the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University, and was recorded in concert in the Freer Gallery's Meyer Auditorium on February 7, 2009. See images, program notes and related artwork at http://www.asia.si.edu/podcasts

In this first-of-its-kind collaboration, soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones join with traditional Chinese instruments to perform new works written for them by Grammy Award-winners Zhou Long and Chen Yi, among others. The New York Times praised the PRISM Quartet for its "sensitivity, technical assurance, and mellow sweet sound," while the Kansas City Star raved that "Music From China is music from heaven." This performance was recorded in concert in the Freer's Meyer Auditorium on March 1, 2009. See images, program notes and related artwork at http://www.asia.si.edu/podcasts