Communitas: a group’s unexpected joy in a shared experience.
Music brings us together. Through music we can share an experience that breaks down barriers of race, culture, politics, religion and sect to find our common humanity. The Circadian String Quartet teams up with Iranian-born santour virtuoso Hamid Taghavi in a cross-cultural exchange not to be missed. This concert explores themes of coming together and Yeganegi, or uniting in times of crisis, with music by Reza Vali, Sahba Aminikia, and Hamid Taghavi, representing two generations of Persian-American composers. Weaving through and uniting the program will be Chiaroscuros or short interludes by David Ryther based on poetry by Rumi.
Praised for his virtuosity and unique style, Hamid Taghavi is an Iranian-American santour player who is greatly influenced by the great masters Parviz Meshkatian and Ardavan Kamkar. Born in Ahar, he began his musical studies at the age of six under the tutelage of Mr. Ebrahim Safari and Dr. Ahad Behjat. Mr. Taghavi was named the Best Santour Player at the age of sixteen; at eighteen he founded the Arasbaran Ensemble, which quickly gained fame and toured the country. The ensemble was awarded the title of the "Best Ensemble" in the Fadje Music Festival. He continued studying the Iranian classical repertoire (Radif) with master Meshkatian but after being deeply inspired by the musicality and contemporary style for santour presented by Ardavan Kamkar, he began his new musical journey with him for a decade while studying composition with Mohammad-Reza Darvishi.
In 1999, he was invited by the Pournazerie family as a co-founder to re-establish the renowned Iranian ensemble, Shams Ensemble. He contributed to Shams Ensemble as a soloist composer and manager touring internationally. Mr Taghavi can be heard on numerous recording albums and has collaborated with famed vocalists and Persian music legends such as Alireza Eftekhari, Hamid Noorbakhsh, Homayoun Shajariyan, and many great artists of this generation.
After moving to California, he was commissioned by Oakland Pacific Choral Orchestra to create a work for santour and choir which exceeded all expectations and was well received by the audience. Hamid’s recent focus is on developing and promoting santour internationally by producing solo album recordings and in collaboration with international musicians.