Category: music
Piano and Composition Student Recital at NOVA Alexandria
Had somebody told me a couple of years ago that I will be standing infront of audience to perform a classical piece like Minuet in C Major by W. A. Mozart, I would have politely laughed with a mix of incredulity and hidden desire. The incredulity would have come from the realization that music is [...]
Night in Istanbul – 2nd International Day of Jazz
What a Musical Feast!? On April 30th, 2013, Istanbul played host to the International Jazz Day Global Concert, featuring Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, Robert Glasper, Esperanza Spalding, Joss Stone, Marcus Miller, John McLaughlin, Terence Blanchard, Ruben Blades, Ramsey Lewis, Hugh Masekela, Eddie Palmieri, Al Jarreau, Dianne Reeves, George Duke, Lee Ritenourr, Jean-Luc Ponty, Milton [...]
Musical Prayer Station with Shameem – March 31
I invite you and your loves ones to a very special Musical Prayer Station and house concert with Shameem Taheri-Lee on Sunday, March 31st, at 6:30 pm.
Shameem was born in Australia to a Chinese-Malaysian father and an Iranian mother. The diversity of her heritage has not only contributed to her exotic looks but has influenced her distinctive eclectic approach to music. Her unique fusion of 90s-esque R&B/ soul with 70s funk and a twist of jazz is imbued with personal and conscious lyrics. Think: Alicia Keys meets Sade in a jazz club, with a subtle edge of Michael Jackson.
Classicism, Romanticism, Impressionism – A Belated Concert Report
For my Piano class last semester, I had to prepare a report for a piano performance. The concert took place the night before the 35th Anniversary Kennedy Center Honors, so during the intermission, my friend Afroditi and I got to see the preparations for the fancy dinner that Buddy Guy, Dustin Hoffman, David Letterman, Natalia [...]
Musical Prayer Station with Gustaff Besungu – Friday, November 2, 2012, 7:30 pm
Dear friends! What nurtures your soul? What makes your heart tender? Prayer, music, fellowship, tea poured in peace, homemade banana bread baked with love and shared with a smile? Whatever the answer might be, sharing music and prayers with friends gets us all closer to the Creator. I invite you and your loves ones on [...]
“Static” at Clarendon Day
Navigating with my bike through the crowd of Clarendon Day on my way to see Katie the Florist at the Arlington Farmers’ Market, I was stopped “in my tracks” by the unmistakable sound of a live rock band. The lead singer had a deep voice which reminded me of the wave of confident female singers [...]
Musical Prayer Station with Afroditi Mitsopoulou on the piano and Mesbah Motamed on the violin – Friday, June 22, 2012
“We have made music a ladder by which souls may ascend to the realm on high.” – Bahá’u’lláh Dear friends! What nurtures your soul? What makes your heart tender? Prayer, music, fellowship, tea poured in peace, homemade cake baked with love and shared with a smile? Whatever the answer might be, sharing music and prayers [...]
Steal Your Rock ‘n’ Roll, Memphis Stays In Me
I was about the age of my daughters, somewhere between kindergarten and the first years of elementary school, when my brother introduced me to rock ‘n’ roll through the music of Deep Purple and Uriah Heep. It has stayed with me ever since but at the time I did not know where its root were — to [...]
The joy of live music!
What a joy live music is! Last night we took advantage of the Kennedy Center’s free tickets for a concert of the National Symphony Orchestra performance of Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77 featuring Leonidas Kavakos on the violin, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, “Pastoral”. And tonight we hosted our [...]
Befriending neighbors through music
Do you know your neighbors? I certainly don’t! And that is sad, because I am pretty sure they all have fascinating stories to share… A few weeks ago, a friend posted on Facebook a short message which lead me to the FotoWeekDC exhibition — a remarkable display of journalistic photography — which was followed by [...]