Tickets

General: $25 | Student: $10 | Princeton University Student: Free through Passport to the Arts.

About

In the wake of the Iranian revolution, teenage Kayhan Kalhor left his homeland and family with nothing but a backpack and his beloved kamancheh (an Iranian bowed string instrument) in tow. Since that time, he has built an international reputation as one of the most famous performers and composers from Iran — touring with the New York Philharmonic; collaborating with John Adams as part of Carnegie Hall’s Perspectives Series; being nominated for five GRAMMY Awards; and winning a 2017 GRAMMY Award with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, of which he is an original member. And yet, the constantly shifting political situations in Iran and the U.S. have continued to complicate both his personal and his professional life. Get to know this extraordinary individual, who has continuously put his dedication to music and his culture above profound loss, anti-Muslim sentiment, and political unrest, in a conversation permeated by live performance, moderated by award-winning international correspondent Deborah Amos.

Bios

Kayhan Kalhor

Kayhan Kalhor is an internationally acclaimed virtuoso on the kamancheh (spiked fiddle), who through his many musical collaborations has been instrumental in popularizing Persian around the world and is a creative force in today’s music scene. His performances of traditional Persian music and multiple collaborations have attracted audiences around the globe. He has studied the music of Iran’s many regions, in particular those of Khorason and Kordestan, and has toured the world as a soloist with various ensembles and orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and the Orchestre National de Lyon. He is co-founder of the renowned ensembles Dastan and Masters of Persian Music. Kalhor has composed works for Iran’s most renowned vocalists Mohammad Reza Shajarian and Shahram Nazeri and has also performed and recorded with Iran’s greatest instrumentalists. He has composed music for television and film and was featured on the soundtrack of Francis Ford Copolla’s Youth Without Youth in a score that he collaborated on with Osvaldo Golijov. John Adams invited him to give a solo recital at Carnegie Hall as part of his Perspectives Series and he has appeared on a double bill at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, sharing the program with the Festival Orchestra performing the Mozart Requiem. Kayhan is an original member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project for whom he continues to compose for and tour with. His compositions appear on all of the Ensemble’s albums. His most recent albums include Silent City, collaboration with Brooklyn Rider and I Will Not Stand Alone with santoor player Ali Bahrami Fard. Kayhan has been nominated for three Grammys and in 2017 was awarded a Grammy with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble (2017).

Deborah Amos

Deborah Amos is a Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence.

A longtime international correspondent, Amos spent much of her award-winning career at National Public Radio. Her reporting on the Middle East and refugees in the U.S. regularly featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, and All Things Considered. She recently covered the Syrian and Iraqi refugee crises, the economy in the Middle East, and the Arab youth surge. Previously she reported for ABC’s Nightline and PBS’s Frontline.

Amos is the author of two books: Eclipse of the Sunnis: Power, Exile, and Upheaval in the Middle East, and Lines in the Sand: Desert Storm and the Remaking of the Arab World. She has won several major journalism honors, including a Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation, a George Foster Peabody Award, an Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award, and an Emmy.