“The specter of a United States travel ban on citizens from several Middle Eastern and African nations has caused a Duluth orchestra to alter its upcoming concert season by removing an Iranian composer from its bill,” writes Brady Slater in Monday’s (4/3) Duluth News Tribune (Minnesota). “The Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra had expected … this summer to unveil a new work by Hooshyar Khayam, a composer from Tehran who has previously appeared in Duluth and been featured by the LSCO and its conductor and artistic director Warren Friesen. But … lingering uncertainty has caused Friesen and the others involved to rethink the show…. In 2015, … Khayam composed a work specifically for the LSCO … [and] even appeared at the concert…. Khayam was scheduled to appear in Duluth again this summer with … ‘Rhapsody in Turquoise’ … that would serve as a companion piece to George Gershwin’s classic ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ … [with] pianist Stephen Prutsman…. Khayam has worked multiple times with both Prutsman and Friesen [and spent] a formative part of his education at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.” Said Khayam, “Together, we will wait for better times to come.”
Posted April 4, 2017
