New York's Near Eastern Music Ensemble, featuring noted violinist and composer Simon Shaheen, will visit the Cornell campus next week for demonstrations, classes and performances.
The visit to Cornell by Shaheen and his world-famous Arab music ensemble is being presented by the Department of Near Eastern Studies, the Department of Music, Institute for European Studies and the Suter-Staley Endowment for Global Business Education at the Johnson Graduate School of Management.
Shaheen will lecture on the topic "Arab Music in the Mediterranean Region: Significant Features and Local Variants," Thursday, April 3, at 5 p.m. in 110 White Hall. He will illustrate his lecture with musical demonstrations. Then, at 7:30 p.m., Shaheen will give a master class to the Cornell Middle Eastern Ensemble in B21 Lincoln Hall. The workshop is open to the public. The event is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, the Society for the Humanities, the Einaudi Center and the Cornell Council for the Arts.
On Friday, April 4, Shaheen and the Middle Eastern Ensemble will present "An Evening of Classical Arab Music: Musical Demonstration and Concert" in the atrium of Sage Hall. From 6 to 7 p.m., there will be an introduction to classical Arab music and demonstrations of its principal characteristics. The concert will begin at 8 p.m. Middle Eastern food will be available between the demonstration and the performance (suggested donation, $5).
The Near Eastern Music Ensemble, formed in 1982 by Shaheen, consists of seven extraordinary musicians who have gathered from around the Middle East to preserve and perform a rich and elaborate music repertoire and increase awareness and appreciation of Near Eastern music. The members include Shaheen, violin and 'ud (Arabic lute); Jamal Sinno, qanun (zither); Bassam Saba, ney (Arabic flute); Najib Shaheen, 'ud; Tomas Ulrich, cello; Michel Merhej, riqq (frame drum); and Yousef Kassab, vocal. They perform the full repertoire of Near Eastern music -- from traditional classical and folkloric music to new works by living composers of contemporary and innovative Arabic music.
Shaheen has earned international acclaim as an instrumental virtuoso and is renowned as one of the most significant Arab musicians, performers and composers of his generation. He dazzles his listeners with his deft leaps from traditional Arabic sounds to jazz and Western classical styles. In the wake of the 9/11 tragedy, Shaheen became the first Arab musician to tour in the United States, performing Oasis of Peace concerts, designed to begin a much-needed healing process between America and the Arab world.
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