The Art of Persian Music: Solo Setar Performance by Amir Nojan

Amir Nojan is a Persian traditional Setar player. He started studying traditional Persian music at the age of twelve with various masters. Some of his eminent teachers were Ustad Dariush Talai, Ustad Jalal Zolfonoon and Ustad MohammadReza Lotfi.

He established and has been directing Nava Ensemble since 1998 in Iran. Nojan has led concerts widely in Iran, Europe and the U.S. as composer, soloist, improviser and ensemble player.

In December 2011; he gave a lecture on “The History of Setar and its Significant Role in Iranian Classical Music” at Stanford University.

In July 2012, Nojan founded a center in the Persian music and arts named Shiraz Arts Academy in the northern California (San Jose). Shiraz Arts Academy is an educational institution specialized in the study and training of music and arts, it is where the talented students work with the distinguished instructors who are leading performers and music educators.

Emruz Festival Presents a night of fusion from Iranian Folk music to Avant-garde jazz, featuring Mahya Hamedi, Taraneh Mousavi, and Martin Gohary. Each of these artists will perform 30-40 minutes long program.

Concert 1: Kākhe Gomān / Palace of Doubt / کاخ گمان by Mahya Hamedi

"Kākhe Gomān" is a personal project including compositions and improvisations on voice and piano. These pieces are explorations of identity and uncertainty.

Mahya Hamedi (born 1999) is an Iranian vocalist, pianist, and composer from Tehran. She is
currently based in Boston, Massachusetts, pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree from Berklee
College of Music. Singing and playing the piano since the age of nine, Mahya realized quickly
that music was her lifelong passion. Her early compositions for theatre won local and national
awards, and she performed in groups across Iran and in Greece before university. Unable to
pursue studies in vocal performance in her home country due to a national ban on women
singing, she studied classical piano at the University of Tehran for two years before traveling to
Berklee to focus on voice and composition.

Concert 2: -Souvenirs from the Unknown- By Taraneh Mousavi and her band

The little black fish collected stories;
tenseless pasts,
flowing into the present,
Floating in nameless waters.
Stories like wanderers,
drifting,
on a nameless day
like Yesterday
like Today
like Emruz
Like
Every
Day

Taraneh Mousavi is an Iranian vocalist, composer and educator currently based between Boston and Vancouver. So far, Taraneh has experienced four continents, capturing the spirit of the many places she has felt “at home” throughout her life. Her Music blends jazz, classical and contemporary music with deep connections to poetry and her Persian roots. Taraneh holds a B.M. in jazz performance from the school, and she is currently studying for her master’s degree at Berklee Global Jazz Institute on a full scholarship. In her current project “Home is a River” she explores belonging and distance within the Iranian diaspora in form of an interdisciplinary EP.

Concert 3: camp 7
Martin Gohary - piano + composer

Kathleen Jara - violin

Leo Weisskoff - acoustic bass

The suite at its core is about finding my identity as an Iranian-American. At a young age, I remember being surrounded by Persians; the aroma of the food, the music, the culture. But as I got older (post 9/11) my worldview was forever changed. There were jokes at school about my father being a terrorist; the constant assumption I was Muslim (even though our mother raised us Roman Catholic); seeing bombings from the Middle East every night on TV….. I felt angrier and angrier at the world and this country for its imperialistic actions throughout the Middle East.

More recently, I learned of various torture methods that the United States finally admitted to committing on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. I felt that I finally had a clearer language to express my emotions from years earlier, and that the suite could help me communicate my rage, sadness, and love of the culture that was obliterated by propaganda. The music reflects these torn emotions

Boston-based Avant-Garde composer Martin Gohary is an artist that has always pushed the limits while remaining focused on developing his craft at all times. Over the past decade, he has been steadily recording original compositions, playing live shows, collaborating with multiple musicians and producers, and inventing new pathways to channel his artistic vision beyond the boundaries of Jazz or Experimental music.

A night of live art performances, by Hiva Sedaghat Sedaghat & Ensemble Decipher’s abstract dance piece, “The Sound Sleep Has Been Shattered”, Azadeh Kangarani’s self-referential play titled “Strung Up at the Airport”, and Esha Sadr & Ramin Etemadi Bozorg one time performance art piece titled “A DOCUMENT FOR A CERTAIN DEATH”.

Show 1: “ The Sound Sleep Has been Shattered”

In that moment when the consciousness of day has long left you and the sound sleep has been shattered, the moment does extend and it keeps stretching within you into a dark night; until your awakening arrives and falls on its knees, facing a long long day.

Show 2: A DOCUMENT FOR A CERTAIN DEATH

Esha Sadr and Ramin Etemadi Bozorg are exploring the meaning of Marino Marini poem, “It was built, destroyed and it remained a sad song on the world” in their one-time performance art piece.

Show 3: “Strung Up at the Airport”

Strung Up at the Airport is a self-referential play, written and performed by Azadeh Kangarani. She shares her memories of being in different countries and her struggles with police officers because of her passport. Her various encounters with other people at different airports make her revise her approach and her judgments of other nationalities. She also questions her own identity and tries to find an answer to it.

Show 1: The Sound Sleep Has Been Shattered

Choreographed and performed by Hiva SedaghatSound designer: Ensemble DecipherSet designer: Sadra Tehrani

In that moment when the consciousness of day has long left you and the sound sleep has been shattered, the moment does extend and it keeps stretching within you into a dark night; until your awakening arrives and falls on its knees, facing a long long day.

Hiva is an Iranian choreographer, dancer and performance artist from Tehran, and currently based in New York City. Coming from a background of architecture, photography and literature, she first got to know Contemporary Dance via the underground scene in Tehran which gave her the opportunity to bring together her personal, social and political experiences through making interdisciplinary pieces that are a mixture of dance, theatre and video.

She continued her journey in this field by participating in various workshops, masterclasses, intensive programs and laboratories in Iran, Lebanon, Turkey, Europe and most recently in NYC.

Her Dance Pieces: “Through the Skin”, “Azi Dahaka”, and “Room” have been presented at festivals across Europe and the Middle East, including the MaHa Body Movement Festival, the Beirut International Platform of Dance, The Zürcher Theatre Spektakel, and Spring Dance Festival.

She has participated in many international artistic residencies and has a strong passion for collaboration and exchange with different cultures and artists from around the world, her artistic journey which live somewhere between personal quotidian events and common human emotions, create a space for improvisation, imagination, transformation and communication as a response from the introverted body of an Iranian woman, vulnerable at times, resilient at others.

 Her recent research and current projects are focusing on Iranian and Eastern myths and culture and their relevance today, both personally and globally.

Ensemble Decipher is a modular, experimental music group that performs with vintage, contemporary, and emerging technologies. Founded in 2017 by Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Ensemble Decipher strives to redefine performer virtuosity by drawing on the technological advancements of our time in order to highlight new voices and ways of listening. By reexamining new music and integrating technology into their performance practice, Ensemble Decipher seeks to reflect on and challenge the power structures that lace the field of electroacoustic music. Recent works commissioned by the group have mobilized network technologies, accelerometers attached to rocks, boxes trained via machine learning to respond to touch, acoustic instruments, and laptops. This has led Ensemble Decipher to collaborate with notable composers and technologists including Mara Helmuth, Margaret Schedel, Hannah Davis, Yaz Lancaster, and Lainie Fefferman and premiere works by many others. Recent feature performances include concerts at the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States, International Computer Music Conference, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Network Music Festival, and an ensemble residency at EarFest. Current members include Joseph Bohigian, Robert Cosgrove, Eric Lemmon, Chelsea Loew, Taylor Long, and Niloufar Nourbakhsh. For the current season Ensemble Decipher has been awarded a SUNY PACC Prize and a USArtists International Grant from the Mid-Atlantic Arts Council to commission composers Kamala Sankaram, Paul Leary, Daria Semegen, Jose Tomás Henriques, Jamie Leigh Sampson, and Mari Kimura for performances in Denmark and across New York State.

Show 2: A DOCUMENT FOR A CERTAIN DEATH
Performers and Creators: Esha Sadr & Ramin Etemadi Bozorg

Esha Sadr and Ramin Etemadi Bozorg are exploring the meaning of Marino Marini poem, “It was built, destroyed and it remained a sad song on the world” in their one-time performance art piece.

Esha Sadr-Eshkevari is an Iranian artist and writer. Born in Nooshahr in 1983, Esha spent her childhood in port cities of Iran, attending exceptional talents school from 1994 to 2001. She attended Art and Architecture University and graduated with MA degree, she divides her time between Prague, Vienna, and Tehran during her PhD. in Theater, Film, and Media. Esha has been working on many Intercultural and interdisciplinary art projects. She works in a variety of media including documentary film, theatre, performance art, video art, and writing. Esha has exhibited performances throughout Iran, USA, France, Germany, and Morocco, since 2012. She has also begun a video art & text series which she named “Little Confessions of Life” more than 100 less than 1miniute mute videos since 2011. In addition, she has been published by numerous art critics in new media and theater media within.

Ramin Etemadi-Bozorg is an Iranian conceptual artist. Born in 1977 Tehran, He produces work in a variety of media redominantly sculpture, including painting, performance art, video art and installation. Ramin graduated in BA ainting from Art and Architecture University, Iran in 2001. He has been involved in many new-media projects that have emerged in Iran for the first time. Examples of his past work was introducing performance arts and video arts for the first time in Iranian history. He is a member of “Iranian Society of Painters”, “Iranian society of sculptures” and “Iranian promotion of visual arts”. Through Ramin’s work he expresses the compassion which has been partly banned or forgotten due to the characteristics of his society. He constantly documents anything from the social-political events to the most intimate personal unspoken. Ramin had fourteen solo exhibition (painting, sculpture, video art), fifteen performance arts, and also attending more than seventy group exhibition, art festivals, Expo and Biennale in Iran, USA, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Turkey, Morocco, UAF, Armenia and China.

Show 3: “Strung Up at the Airport”
A one-woman show created by Azadeh Kangarani
Performer and Creator Azadeh Kangarani

Strung Up at the Airport is a self-referential play, written and performed by Azadeh Kangarani. She shares her memories of being in different countries and her struggles with police officers because of her passport. Her various encounters with other people at different airports make her revise her approach and her judgments of other nationalities. She also questions her own identity and tries to find an answer to it.

Azadeh Kangarani is a freelance theatre director, actor, and writer. She started her career in Tehran her hometown and continued, in UAE, and in Europe. Currently, Azadeh is based in Washington DC and works as a multimedia journalist. 

Azadeh was a television line producer and TV news show director at Radio Free Europe in Prague, Czech Republic (2016-2021)

She was a lecturer at Prague City University in the Department of Media & IT and Charles University in the Czech Republic (2017-2021). She graduated from The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (2016) And currently is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Theatre Studies at Charles University. Azadeh maintains being active in diverse and multicultural environments where there are opportunities to share her values with others.

Emruz Festival presents a night of multimedia performances including Raha Behnam’s dance piece called “Void in Vignettes” and Neda Zahraie’s Hybric poetry titled, “Anamnése”

“Anamnése”

Neda Zahraie’s Hybric poetry

Hybrid poetry is an experimental approach to poetry–a mix of old and new, a respect for form, and an enthusiastic break from all preconceived notions and normative barriers in literature and art. Anamnése is the process of remembering and recalling, similar to a patient's account of medical history as told to a doctor. Herewith poetry, images, sound, and movement the artist goes back in time to childhood at her grandmother's garden in Tehran to piece together the story of women's lives, parallel and overlapping life stories that are constructed of collectively suppressed and distorted memories and guarded myths.
The experience of otherness for the immigrant, the "other" that is defined by all that she is not–especially for an Iranian woman, double burdened by both racism and sexism, this human collision with not belonging to the present can by necessity fuse the body to a long gone past.

Nostalgia can take hold and can become a permanent part of the mind, a feature of the body. Unknowingly memories can be turned into a shrine, and the devotion to such built convictions of what is no longer can become the basis for the mind and body's undoing. Fortunately, for artists and audiences alike, through the process of artistic investigation, the hybrid poetics of Anamnése, the cure can be reached.

Neda Zahraie is a writer, musician, painter, filmmaker and actress based in New York City. She is the author of two volumes of poetry, Bar Scraps & Bathroom Confessionals (2010), and Anamnesis. She was trained as a classical pianist for over a decade, later switching her primary instrument to guitar and subsequently to voice. Neda writes and performs her original music under the moniker Kamalata. Her debut solo album, Red Lips, a politically charged and lyric heavy collection of 9 songs produced by Belgian producer Frederik Rubens (Brazilian Girls, Soan, Pharaoh’s Daughter, Sabina Sciubba) was released in 2016 on the independent record label, Apama Records. She is a founder and member of the Synth Techno Rock trio, CHIC CHOC, a band in which she is co-composer, principal lyric writer, performer and singer. Her large format abstract paintings, impacted by the personal theme of growing up in war and inspired by philosophical thought and works of literature, explore the relationship between trauma, security, synthesis and adaptation. Pushing the boundaries of the status quo, advocating experimentations in literature, music and film, her art is invariably oppositional—questioning the limits of mainstream art and culture, and applying methods that seek to surpass the limits of popular practice. She holds an M.A. in English Literature from the City College of New York, a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Maryland, a certificate of French Language & Civilization from Université Paris-Sorbonne. She is certified in media field production and video editing from Arlington Independent Media, and has studied acting at The National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts.

Website: https://www.kamalata.com

Void in Vignettes

by Raha Behnam

Void in Vignettes explores memory, loss, grief and the empty spaces left in the wake of immigration and diasporic identity. Thank you to my sister and to those who have supported us along the way, throughout the years.

Raha Behnam is an artist working across disciplines and practices towards liberatory modes of being and doing.

https://rahabehnam.com

Amrikayee: The Dreamer Play

Amrikayee is the story of a close-knit family navigating post-pandemic, post-Trump America and at its heart, a son who wants to make his father proud. Faced with a spiritual dilemma, the ghost of Rumi, in translating Rumi for renowned southerner Coleman Larks, Ali retreats to his childhood home in DC. Ali needs to make a choice: does he keep his job and follow the path to being a commercially popular poet? Hold onto his artistic principles, stay broke, and take a stand? Or take over the family business? Amrikayee examines whether Rumi’s been whitewashed for hipsters if Drake rapping in Arabic is cultural appropriation, the cost of the American dream, and what it means to be the Iranian flavor of American.

Sina Pooresmaeil - Playwright, reading for Ali

Rory McGregor - Director

Other Casts: TBD

Sina Pooresmaeil is a New York City-based actor/writer hailing from Northern Virginia. Currently pursuing an MFA in Acting at Columbia University. Previous television credits, High Maintenance. Previous stage credits, Twelfth Night (Columbia University), Spin by Adam North, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (Wallis Studio Ensemble), and S.O.S (Wallis Studio Ensemble).

An Evening Piano Recital from Persian Piano Repertoire, including renowned composer Javad Maroufi.

Javād Maroufi was one of the first composers of piano music in Persia and is celebrated for his contribution to Persian classical music. He was born in Tehran to musician parents Musa Maroufi and Ezra Maroufi – both pupils of renowned master, Darvish Khan.

Winner of the 2006 Australian National Piano Award, US-born Iranian-Australian pianist Amir Farid has been described as “a highly creative musician – a pianist of great intelligence and integrity”. Residing in both Melbourne and New York City, Amir has performed as a solo recitalist, concerto soloist, and collaborative artist in concert halls and festivals internationally, including Carnegie Hall New York, St. Martin in the Fields London, Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center New York, Al-Hashemi-II Kuwait, MONA FOMA Festival Hobart, Sidney Myer Music Bowl Melbourne, Coriole Festival SA, Huntington Festival NSW, as well as other venues in Canada, Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand and China. Recital collaborations include tenor Ian Bostridge, saxophonist Claude Delangle, violinists Arabella Steinbacher and Nikki Chooi, violist Lise Berthaud, cellists Mats Lidström, Alexander Baillie and Martin Loveday, sopranos Greta Bradman and Siobhan Stagg, baritone Wolfgang Holzmair, flautist Michel Bellavance and clarinetist Philippe Cuper. As a chamber musician, Amir is a pianist of the Benaud Trio, winning the Piano Trio prize at the 2005 Australian Chamber Music Competition. He is also a recorded artist on the Steinway & Sons Spirio catalogue, as part of the piano manufacturer’s revolutionary player-piano system. Amir has studied with Ronald Farren-Price, Andrew Ball, Geoffrey Tozer, Rita Reichman, and Timothy Young, studying at the Royal College of Music, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, and the Australian National Academy of Music. He continues to work with Farren-Price since beginning studies with him in the mid 90’s. While in NYC, Mr. Farid is a staff pianist at the Vocal Arts department of the Juilliard School, and has worked as a rehearsal pianist with the New York Philharmonic. Please visit www.amirfarid.com

Emruz Festival presents short film screenings created by Iranian & Iranian - American filmmakers: Mehrnoush Alia, Maryam Ataei, Julia Elihu, and Shadi Ghaheri.

"Faranak"

Written and directed by Mehnoush Alia.

A dog that is stuck in the middle of her owner’s divorce finds an unlikely friendship with an Uber driver.

Mehrnoush Alia is a filmmaker and playwright from Tehran.  Her debut short film “Scheherazade” won several awards at festivals such as Champs-Elysées Film Festival.  She graduated from Columbia University with an MFA in Screenwriting and holds a B.A. in Film Studies and Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley.   “Faranak” is her second short film that won the Enderby Fellowship at Austin Film Festival.  She recently launched an interactive documentary SangSaboor about domestic violence in Iran that she wrote and co-produced.  Mehrnoush is an alumna of Berlin Talent Campus 2020.

"Winter of 79"

Directed by Julia Elihu, based on a true story

At the onset of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, a Persian-Jewish mother is forced to question her faith to her country. Based on a true story.

Julia Elihu is an Iranian-American writer and director who strives to tell untold stories through her own rosey perspective.  So often, it is the culmination of intimate moments and subtle shifts in personhood that shape us into who we are. Julia aims to document the intricacies and vibrancy of everyday life in each piece she touches; whether that be through capturing glimpses of humanity in her commercial work, or exploring both the grit and wonder that comes with life through her narrative films. 

Julia’s love for her Iranian culture inspires her to create and pushes her to tell stories from a unique perspective. In 2018, she brought these themes to her short film YASAMIN, which is based on her mother’s story of immigration and was a Grand Jury Prize Nominee at the 2018 AFI Film Festival. More recently, she produced a short documentary titled TEAM MERYLAND which was acquired by The New Yorker and PBS' POV Shorts Program. Julia's latest short film, Winter of '79, had it's World Premiere at the Oscar-Qualifying Rhode Island International Film Festival, and its West Coast Premiere at the Oscar-Qualifying Hollyshorts Film Festival.  When it comes to commercial work, Julia has worked with a range of clients from El Camino Health, to Our/LA Vodka, to Tinder, to Nike X Togethxr.  In the future, Julia hopes to tell more stories that remind us to savor those little beauties of life. The small victories.

"The Appointment"

Directed by Maryam Ataei

Nicki is under pressure to conform to what society expects of a woman.

"Swimming"

directed by Shadi Ghaheri written by Sam Dash

Jade hasn't been home in years. His best friend, Harry, never left. As they reunit at their childhood beach, how much can this friendship hold?

Shadi Ghaheri is a theatre and Film director, choreographer and writer from Tehran, Iran based in New York City. She graduated from Yale School of Drama with a MFA in Directing. She has directed Banned, (Broadway Bound), Glimpse (Rattlestick),Mother Courage (Hunter College), Tosca Tehran (Rough Draft), Fen (Columbia University), Untitled (Rattlestick Theatre), Lucretia (HERE), Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Williams College), Shahr-e-Farang (Spectrum NYC), The Girl is Chained, Death of Yazdgerd, Titus Andronicus, and choreographed Passion (Yale School of Drama), The Slow Sound of Snow and a trio devised movement pieces named, فریادا, Butterfly’s Terror, and Post Scream and Terror with all-female company (Yale Cabaret).

We invite you all to join us for a Sunday afternoon filled with multiple events. 

 * Open Mic with Emruz Friends: Sade Namei, Armin Antique, Kaveh Haghtalab, and Ali Hadian will present short musical and stand-up comedy performances. We open our invitation to all our audiences to join us and participate in the open mic if interested. 

 * Exhibition in the common room: Sara Meghdari’s photographic series titled "Zan" will be showcased in the common room space 

 * 30-minute performance, “Thousand Paper Cranes”: a live interactive performance for kids and adults (age +2.5) created by Diana Fathi and Greg T. Nanni. It is believed that if one folded 1,000 paper cranes, one's wish would come true. The creative team behind “Thousands Paper Cranes” in collaboration with Emruz Festival are working towards the goal of folding one thousand paper crane for a child who currently lives in a war-torn country. Join us in making this wish come true. All children must be accompanied by an adult. Children under 15 get in for free! A

Zan

by Sara Meghdari

Zaferan /Zaefearaon/ also known as Saffron in the English language comes from a Crocus flowers stigma, part of the female reproductive organ of the plant. In the photographic series titled "Zan" these crimson stigmas have been carefully arranged in a calligraphic style to form the word, Woman, (زن zan) in Farsi, the primary language spoken in Iran. Simultaneously, each portrait shows an individual line silhouette of a woman’s breast, modeled after my own friends and family.

Sara Z. Meghdari dari.com/is an Iranian-American Interdisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, NY.
Meghdari holds a MFA in Photography, Video & Related Media from the School of Visual Arts and a B.A in Communication from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.
She has been twice awarded the Alice Beck-Odette Scholarship Award as well as the Thomas Reiss Memorial Award. Meghdari is an alumna of the Female Engaging Artist Residency Series (FEARS) at the University of Colorado and the Engaging Artists Residency Program with the More-Art Organization. Her work has been published in Living Life Fearless, ANTE Mag, VICE, and Dodho Magazine. She has performed at Chinatown Soup Gallery (2019) and her work has been shown at the Gallery of Contemporary Art in Colorado (2021), the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center (2018), the 10th Annual Governors Island Art Fair (2017), and the Queens Museum of Art (2016), among others. Meghdari recently joined Transmitter Gallery as a co-director to the artist-run space in Bushwick, Brooklyn.




Thousands Paper Cranes

by Diana Fathi & Greg Nanni

Greg T. Nanni is a playwright, performer, marketer, and former Philadelphian now living in the NYC area. He is a member of Witherspoon Circle, the Literary Manager of the Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium, and the Co-Founder of the PDC Playwrights' Happy Hour, and formerly served as President on the board of the Philadelphia Dramatists’ Center. He performs his own solo shows FAT and THE DEPRESSION SHOW! based on demand. Full length plays include: LONELINESS (CU 2020 Workshop Production), THE BEAR IS HERE (BAPF Semi-Finalist), RAGE (Winner: Emerson Stage NewFest New Play Workshop 2022), VACATIONS, and ANGST. Up next: LOVE (AMONG DREAMERS), June 24-26 at Columbia’s Lenfest Center Of The Arts. He is a recipient of the MFA in Playwriting at Columbia University, where he was awarded the Dean’s Fellowship.


Diana Fathi (She/her) is a multidisciplinary theater practitioner from Tehran, Iran based in New York City. She has directed Third Person Singular (Columbia University), Ahali-e-Hava (Tehran City Theater), and Foggy Season (The multilingual collaboration between Iran and Georgia). Her recent dramaturgical work includes Glimpse (Rattlestick Theater), Hedda Gabler directed by Rakesh Palisetty (Columbia University), Twelfth Night directed by Kelly O’Donnell (Columbia University), and Loneliness by Greg Nanny (Columbia University). She has won several national and international prizes for acting. Diana received her MFA (Dramaturgy) from Columbia University, M.A. (Philosophy of Art), and B.A. (Dramatic Literature) from Tehran University of Art.