Lecture: Toward That Endless Plain, Prof. Reza Vali

Lecture with Prof. Reza Vali (Carnegie Mellon University)

“Toward that Endless Plain, Concerto for Persian Ney and Orchestra”.
“رو به آن وسعت بی واژه، کنسرتو برای نی ایرانی و ارکستر”

This lecture is designed for composers and musicians of both classical and Iranian traditional music background, but is also open to regular public.

Dr. Vali will introduce us to this composition which has been performed in the US and Europe by Mr. Khosrow Soltani, solo Persian Ney, and the US and European orchestras such as the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the LA Chamber Orchestra, the Sacramento Philharmonic, The Austria-Slovakia Philharmonia, and the Württembergische Philharmonie. He will discuss the technical aspects of the piece such as the modes, orchestration, relation between the Ney and the orchestra, etc.

Admission by Donation, suggested $15.

Reza Vali was born in Ghazvin, Persia (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 Seattle Chamber Players, and the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, as well as grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts 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 Orchestra 2001. His chamber works have received performances by Cuarteto Latinoamericano, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, 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 Naxos, New Albion, MMC, Ambassador, Albany, and ABC Classics labels.