March 06, 2007

In a Persian Market

Remember Nader Mashayehki? He's the conductor of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, who last year, toured Europe with a program that included Frank Zappa's Dog Breath Variations. He's at it again: tomorrow night, he'll lead a perfomance of John Cage's Four6 at the Tehran Conservatory of Music. “It will be interesting to find out whether there is any penchant for Cage’s works among Iranians or not, and if so, to what degree,” Mashayekhi says. As far as anyone knows, this is the first Cage performance in Iran since the Islamic Revolution. The Tehran Symphony faces chronic funding shortages, but Masayekhi isn't inclined to shift to a more conservative programming philosophy. “[Cage's] works create a hope and a philosophical view toward life," Mashayehki says. "This view is very helpful and we really need that hope in Iran… his music creates joie de vivre.” Indeed.

(Article via New Music ReBlog, which I'm shocked and mortified to find is not on the blogroll. I really need to update that thing.)

Update (3/6): Alex Ross, who's more productive on his lunch hour than I am, tracks down a poster for the concert that I can't wait to print out and hang on the wall.

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