Skirball Cultural Center to Welcome the Ghazal Ensemble, 3/15

The Skirball Cultural Center presents the Grammy-nominated Ghazal Ensemble on Sunday, March 15, 2015, at 7:00 p.m., featuring Iranian master Kayhan Kalhor (kamancheh), Indian sitar virtuoso Shujaat Husain Khan, and acclaimed Indian tabla player Sandeep Das. This highly influential collaboration has dazzled audiences worldwide with their blend of two classical music traditions that have been intertwined historically, geographically, and culturally for centuries: the Persian dastgah and North Indian raga.

Formed in 1997 by Kalhor and Khan, Ghazal's first recording, Lost Songs of the Silk Road, won critical acclaim for uniquely bringing together two Eastern classical traditions. The group has since released three additional albums including 2003's Grammy-nominated The Rain. They have performed in major concert halls and festivals throughout the world, and in 2015 they embark on their first tour in North America in ten years, including a stop at the Skirball.

Three-time Grammy nominee Kayhan Kalhor is an internationally acclaimed virtuoso on the kamancheh (spiked fiddle). Through his diverse musical collaborations, Kalhor has been instrumental in popularizing Persian music in the West. A student of Iranian music, Kalhor 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 the co-founder of renowned ensembles Dastan and Masters of Persian Music. Kalhor has also composed works for Iranian vocalists Mohammad-Reza Shajarian and Shahram Nazeri as well as music for television and film, including contributions to the score for Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth. Kalhor is an original member of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, with whom he continues to tour.

Shujaat Husain Khan, son and disciple of the master sitarist Ustad Vilayat Khan, is one of the leading artists of his generation in North Indian classical music. He belongs to the Imdad Khan gharana (school) of the sitar and is the seventh in an unbroken family line that has produced many musical masters. Khan taught Indian classical music at UCLA for many years, and now performs regularly at major musical festivals in India and throughout the United States, the Far East, and Europe. In 2001 he was awarded the Rashtriya Kumar Gandharva Samman, India's highest honor for a classical musician under the age of 45.

Sandeep Das is one of today's leading tabla players. A favorite disciple of the legendary tabla maestro Pandit Kishan Maharaj ji, Das has collaborated with a variety of genre-crossing artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Paquito D'Rivera, and Kayhan Kalhor. He has appeared as a soloist with some of the world's leading classical orchestras and string quartets. Das made his stage debut with Pandit Ravi Shankar at the age of sixteen and has since performed regularly with many leading Indian maestros. He is founder of HUM (Harmony and Universality through Music), an ensemble promoting global understanding through performance and education. Das has composed for and performs internationally with Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble for the last fifteen years.

For more information about programs at the Skirball, call (310) 440-4500 or visit skirball.org.

About the Skirball - The Skirball Cultural Center is dedicated to exploring the connections between 4,000 years of Jewish heritage and the vitality of American democratic ideals. It welcomes and seeks to inspire people of every ethnic and cultural identity. Guided by our respective memories and experiences, together we aspire to build a society in which all of us can feel at home. The Skirball Cultural Center achieves its mission through educational programs that explore literary, visual, and performing arts from around the world; through the display and interpretation of its permanent collections and changing exhibitions; through an interactive family destination inspired by the Noah's Ark story; and through outreach to the community.

Visiting the Skirball - The Skirball Cultural Center is located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049. Museum hours: Tuesday-Friday 12:00-5:00 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; closed Mondays and holidays. Admission to exhibitions: $10 General; $7 Seniors, Full-Time Students, and Children over 12; $5 Children 2-12. Exhibitions are always free to Skirball Members and Children under 2. Exhibitions are free to all visitors on Thursdays. For general information, the public may call (310) 440-4500 or visit skirball.org. The Skirball is also home to Zeidler's Café, which serves innovative California cuisine in an elegant setting, and Audrey's Museum Store, which sells books, contemporary art, music, jewelry, and more.

Photo © 2010 Jack Vortoogian/FrontRowPhotos

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