Contact: Michele Abba

805-756-2406; mabba@calpoly.edu

The program will also feature Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Scheherazade’

SAN LUIS OBISPO — The Cal Poly Symphony will perform works by Bahram Osqueezadeh and “Scheherazade” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 3, in Harold J. Miossi Hall in the Performing Arts Center’s Christopher Cohan Center.

Works by guest artist Osqueezadeh will be performed by the symphony for the first half of the concert. A multi-instrumentalist, scholar and composer, Osqueezadeh will join the ensemble to perform his “Concerto for Santur and Orchestra.” Guest vocalist Alireza Shahmohammadi will the sing “Rational Insanity.” Both works combine Persian and Western musical traditions.

Osqueezadeh will also give a lecture-demonstration of his music and compositional process at 11:10 a.m. Thursday, June 1, in Room 218 of the Davidson Music Center.

After intermission, the symphony will present Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade,” an orchestral tour de force based on “One Thousand and One Nights.” In this collection of Middle Eastern folk tales — and in the music — Scheherazade avoids death by entertaining her husband with tales of adventure and romance. Throughout, Rimsky-Korsakov evokes these tales with dazzling orchestral color and lyricism.

Osqueezadeh was the co-founder and director of the Drvak Institute of Music in Iran, as well as co-founder of the Drvak Ensemble. As a soloist, composer and conductor, he has appeared on many radio and television programs in Iran and has toured the country performing his original compositions.  He received the Gold Award at the Eighth Nationwide Fajr Music Festival and now serves on the faculty at UC Santa Barbara.

Shahmohammadi is recognized as one of today’s renowned singers in Iran and a master of Persian classical music repertoires. He began his musical studies at the age of eight under the direction of his father and continued his studies with Hatam Asgari Farahani’ Mohammad Reza Shajarian and M.R.Lotfi. His most recent concert was a collaboration with the legendary Indian musician Pandit Swapan Chaudhure in Z space, San Francisco. He has 15 published albums, including “Majnoon,” which was a collaboration with the late Theodore Bikel — the actor and singer from “Fiddler on the Roof” — and Lian ensemble.

The symphony is directed by Music Professor David Arrivée.

The June 1 lecture-demonstration is free and open to the public. Tickets to the concert are $15 and $20 general and $10 students. Tickets can be purchased from the Cal Poly Ticket Office between noon and 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. To order by phone, call 805-SLO-4TIX (805-756-4849). Event parking is sponsored by the PAC.

The concert is sponsored by Cal Poly’s Music Department, College of Liberal Arts and Instructionally Related Activities program. For more information, visit the Music Department’s calendar website, email music@calpoly.edu or call 805-756-2406.