You may see and hear a lot in coming days about Cyrus of Persia, founder of the Achaemenid Empire. The famous cylinder named after him is exhibited at the Asian Art Museum (Aug. 9-Sept. 22), and on Aug. 10, the King Cyrus Symphonic Suite will be premiered in the Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium.
The concert is presented by the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans, the suite is composed and conducted by Loris Tjeknavorian, and performed by the newly formed orchestra for the occasion, the 77-piece San Francisco Philharmonic.
Soprano Raeeka Shehabi-Yaghmai, a San Francisco Conservatory alumna, is soloist in the work, which also features pianist Tara Kamangar, and narration by actor Houshang Touzie.
Tjeknavorian composed the first version of the symphonic suite in 1972 for the 2,500 anniversary celebration of the Persian empire, performed in the presence of heads of state from across the world at the ancient city of Persepolis. Later, he revised and expanded the composition into a symphonic suite in three movements portraying important episodes in the life of Cyrus, based on the writings of Herodotus and Xenophon.
The symphonic suite celebrates the life of Cyrus from childhood, through the early years of his reign, "culminating with his declaration of human rights," written in cuneiform and preserved on the baked clay Cyrus Cylinder.
In 539 BCE, the Achaemanid army entered the city of Babylon, and Cyrus assumed the titles of "king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four corners of the world." He had the cylinder written and placed under the walls of Ésagila, the Sumerian name for the temple of Marduk, protector god of Babylon.
The cylinder was excavated in 1879 by the Assyrian-British archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam, and has been kept since in the British Museum, which is loaning it to the Asian Art Museum.