[LCM Events] 3rd Berklee Annual Middle Eastern Festival featuring Simon Shaheen, April 19th, 2011

[ckaram@berklee.edu]

Dear all,

It is a pleasure to announce that this year's Berklee Annual Middle
Eastern Festival will feature maestro Simon Shaheen as Artist
in Residence of the festival. Simon will be hosting a clinic on tuesday
April 19th at Cafe 939 on Boylston Street, from 2:15-3:45pm (free
admission, open to the public) and will be performing with the Berklee All
Star Middle Eastern Ensemble that same evening at 8:15pm at the Berklee
Performance Center. The program will feature Simon Shaheen's original
compositions, as well as music from Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, Spain and the
Balkans.

Please find more information on the event below. We are very honored to
have Simon with us, and we hope to see many of you both at the clinic and
concert!!

Warm regards,

Christiane

ps- I have attached a flyer of the event. Thank you for spreading the word!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------3rd
Berklee Annual Middle Eastern Festival
Featuring Artist in Residence, Oud and Violin Virtuoso Simon Shaheen,
and the Berklee All Star Middle Eastern Ensemble
Directed by Christiane Karam

Tuesday April 19th
2:15-3:45pm Open Clinic, Cafe 939, Free Admission, Open to the Public
8:15pm Berklee Performance Center Concert, General Admission 10$, 2$ with
Berklee ID


...On April 18th and 19th 2011, Berklee College of Music welcomes
world-renowned oud and violin virtuoso Simon Shaheen for a residency that
will include a masterclass, clinic and concert, as part of its 3rd Annual
Middle Eastern Festival.

During his visit, Simon Shaheen will work with the ensemble on april 18th,
and give a clinic (open to the public) in Cafe 939 from 2:15-3:45pm on
April 19th. The residency will culminate in a BPC performance later that
evening, during which Shaheen will perform with the students, as well as
solo and in small ensemble settings.

The festival aims to showcase different styles and genres of Middle
Eastern music as well as artists, and to bring together students from
different musical and cultural backgrounds in experiencing this music.

This event is sponsored by the Ensemble Department and the Diversity and
Inclusion Office. It was founded and is directed by Berklee Voice Faculty
Member Christiane Karam.

MORE ABOUT SIMON SHAHEEN:
Simon Shaheen dazzles his listeners as he deftly leaps from traditional
Arabic sounds to jazz and Western classical styles. His soaring technique,
melodic ingenuity, and unparalleled grace have earned him international
acclaim as a virtuoso on the ‘oud and violin.

Shaheen is one of the most significant Arab musicians, performers, and
composers of his generation. His work incorporates and reflects a legacy
of Arabic music, while it forges ahead to new frontiers, embracing many
different styles in the process. This unique contribution to the world of
arts was recognized in 1994 when Shaheen was honored with the prestigious
National Heritage Award at the White House.

In the 1990s he released four albums of his own: Saltanah (Water Lily
Acoustics), Turath (CMP), Taqasim (Lyrichord), and Simon Shaheen: The
Music of Mohamed Abdel Wahab (Axiom), while also contributing cuts to
producer Bill Laswell’s fusion collective, Hallucination Engine (Island).
He has contributed selections to soundtracks for The Sheltering Sky and
Malcolm X, among others, and has composed the entire soundtrack for the
United Nations–sponsored documentary, For Everyone Everywhere. Broadcast
globally in December 1998, this film celebrated the 50th anniversary of
the United Nations Human Rights Charter.

But perhaps his greatest success has come with Blue Flame (ARK21, 2001),
where he leads his group, Qantara, on a labyrinthian journey through the
world of fusion music to discover the heart of the Middle East. The album
has been nominated for eleven Grammy Awards, and the band’s performances
have been called “glorious.”

A Palestinian, born in the village of Tarshiha in the Galilee in 1955,
Shaheen’s childhood was steeped in music. His father, Hikmat Shaheen, was
a professor of music and a master ‘oud player. “Learning to play on the
‘oud from my father was the most powerful influence in my musical life,”
Shaheen recalls. He began playing on the ‘oud at the age of five, and a
year later studying violin at the Conservatory for Western Classical Music
in Jerusalem. “When I held and played these instruments, they felt like an
extension of my arms.”

After graduating from the Academy of Music in Jerusalem in 1978, Shaheen
was appointed its instructor of Arab music, performance, and theory. Two
years later he moved to New York City to complete his graduate studies in
performance at the Manhattan School of Music, and later in performance and
music education at Columbia University.

In 1982, Shaheen formed the Near Eastern Music Ensemble in New York,
establishing a group that would perform the highest standard of
traditional Arab music. This time also marked the beginning of Shaheen’s
workshops and lecture/demonstrations in schools, colleges, and
universities to educate the younger generation. As a champion and guardian
of Arab music, Shaheen still devotes almost fifty percent of his time to
working with schools and universities, including Julliard, Columbia,
Princeton, Brown, Harvard, Yale, University of California in San Diego,
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and many others.

His concert credits are a veritable compendium of the world’s greatest
venues: Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Cairo’s Opera House, Theatre de la
Ville in Beirut, and Belgium’s Le Palais des Arts. In May of 2004, Shaheen
appeared at Quincy Jones’ “We Are The Future,” fundraising concert in Rome
in front of a half million strong crowd.

As a composer, Shaheen has received grants from the National Endowment for
the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, Meet the Composer, the
Jerome Foundation, Continental Harmony, and Yellow Springs Institute. In
addition to his recorded work, his theatrical repertoire includes Majnun
Layla, (performances included the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and The
Museum of Natural History in New York), The Book and the Stranger (from
Kalilah Wa-Dimanah), Possible City, and Collateral Damage with actress
Vanessa Redgrave. He has also written the music for the documentary of the
British Museum’s Egyptian collection, which has toured U.S. museums.

Since 1994, Shaheen has produced the Annual Arab Festival of Arts, called
“Mahrajan al-Fan.” Held in New York, the festival showcases the work of
the finest Arab artists, while presenting the scope, depth and quality of
Arab culture. To continue this exposure to Arab music and culture, Shaheen
founded the Annual Arabic Music Retreat in 1997. Held each summer at Mount
Holyoke College, this weeklong intensive program of Arabic music studies
draws participants from the U.S. and abroad.

For the past six years, though, Shaheen has focused much of his energies
on Qantara. The band, whose name means arch in Arabic, brings to life
Shaheen’s vision for the unbridled fusion of Arab, jazz, Western
classical, and Latin American music, a perfect alchemy for music to
transcend the boundaries of genre and geography.

“I want to create a world music exceptionally satisfying to the ear and
for the soul,” says Shaheen, “This is why I selected members for Qantara
who are all virtuosos in their own musical forms, and whose expertise and
knowledge can raise the music and the group’s performance to spectacular
levels.”

Qantara made their first live recording debut on Mondo Melodia/ARK21’s
“Historic Live Recording of the Two Tenors & Qantara,” featuring tenors
Wadi al-Safi and Sabah Fahkri. The disc featured two instrumental cuts by
Shaheen and Qantara, which, only begins to show the band’s range and
capabilities.”

Shaheen and Qantara made their full recording debut with Blue Flame,.
Compositions of “Al-Qantara” and “Dance Mediterranea” sparkle like jewels,
while the opening track, Blue Flame, is a bravura exhibition of Shaheen’s
— and the band’s — virtuosity. The Los Angeles Times proclaimed the record
“stunning,” National Public Radio called it “a staggering tour-de-force of
technique and passion,” CMJ called it “a new benchmark in Arab-Western
fusion,” and the Washington Post termed it “eminently cosmopolitan.”

The band has toured during 2003 and 2004, playing concerts and festivals
like WOMAD USA, WOMAD Sicily, the prestigious Newport Jazz Festival,
Montreal Jazz Festival. Traveling throughout Europe and the Middle East,
Qantara’s appearances have included: Beiteddine Festival in Lebanon; Les
Mediterranean in France; New York’s Central Park Summer Stage; Stern Grove
International Festival in San Francisco; Chicago World Music Festival;
Royce Hall in Los Angeles; University Musical Society in Ann Arbor; Walker
Arts Center in Minneapolis; International Souk Ukaz at the historic
citadel in Amman, Jordan; and Yabous Festival in the historical Tombs of
Kings in East Jerusalem amongst others. In Palestine, Shaheen conducts an
annual weeklong music workshop designed for gifted children.

In addition to performing with his two bands, Qantara and the Near Eastern
Music Ensemble, Shaheen tours as a solo artist internationally and as a
lecturer throughout the academic world promoting awareness to Arab music
through numerous lecture and workshop presentations.

THE BERKLEE ALL STAR MIDDLE EASTERN ENSEMBLE is a an extension of the
Berklee Middle Eastern Fusion Ensemble, and consists of an outstandingly
talented and diverse group of international students. This year's stellar
line up is:

Marina Satti (Voice) Athens, Greece
Burcu Gulec (Voice) Ankara, Turkey
Mayssa Karaa(Voice) Beirut, Lebanon
Maya Khaldi (Voice) East Jerusalem, Palestine
Jasna Duran (Voice) Belgrade, Serbia
Bharathi Palivela (Voice) Warangal, India
Alex Economou (Voice) Paphos, Cyprus
Jonathan Dendy (Voice) Sarasota, FL
Tracy Robertson (Voice) Watertown, NY

Ali Amr (Qanun/Voice) Ramallah, Palestine
Layth Al Rubaye (Violin) Jordan/Iraq
Naseem El Atrash (Cello) Beit Sahur, Palestine
Zaynedin Mohamad (Oud/Guitar) London, UK
Kalani Trinidad (Flute) Carolina, Puerto Rico
Jenn Allen (Trumpet) Merrimack, NH
Felix Peikli (Clarinet) Oslo, Norway
Ugur Krgz (Trombone) Istanbul, Turkey
Utar Artun (Piano) Ankara, Turkey
Ariadna Castellanos Rivas, (Piano) Madrid, Spain
Tyreek Jackson (Bass) New York, NY
Ekin Cengizkan (Drumset) Istanbul, Turkey
Tareq Rantisi (Percussion) Ramallah, Palestine
Sergio Martinez (Percussion) Madrid, Spain
Leo Shimizu (Percussion) Tokyo, Japan
Jon Nellen (Percussion) Mumbai, India

and Christiane Karam (Director,Voice,Percussion) Beirut, Lebanon

PURCHASE TICKETS ONLINE THROUGH TICKETMASTER AT:
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/01004577F4E892E3?artistid=1528413&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=5%3Fcamefrom%3DCFC_FACEBOOK_EVENT

http://www.ticketmaster.com/Berklee-Middle-Eastern-Festival-tickets/artist/1528413
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