by Christian Castellanos | Mar 18, 2024
From the Pierce website: “Piano and Percussion Duo. Michael Jones, Percussion. Michael Jones is a percussionist and conductor based in Southern California. His work focuses on championing new pieces of the 21st century as well as works from the 20th century avant-garde. He is particularly interested in time, memory, perception, and the lyricism of embodied performance. Composers he has worked closely with include David Macbride, Kevin Good, Pluto Bell, and Matt Sargent among others. He has performed at the LA Philharmonic’s Noon-to-Midnight Festival, The Ojai Music Festival, The Other Minds Festival, Monday Evening Concerts, The Dog Star Orchestra Festival, and the Hartford New Music Festival. Shaoai Ashley Zhang, Piano. A pianist with “impressive technical skill and innate musicality” (Unsuk Chin), Shaoai Ashley Zhang is an active solo and chamber musician. A champion of contemporary music, Ms. Zhang has premiered dozens of new works and collaborated closely with composers including Helmut Lachenmann, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Unsuk Chin. Ms. Zhang presents recitals featuring both new and old piano repertoire, which puts contemporary music in dialogue with the past. Recent engagements include appearances as a soloist in Unsuk Chin’s Double Concerto with the Palimpsest Ensemble, as well as Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22, K. 482 with the UC San Diego Chamber Orchestra.”
The ASO concert will be held at the Performing Arts Building Thursday, March 21, at 1 p.m. This free event will feature percussionist Michael Jones and pianist Shaoai Ashley Zhang.
by Christian Castellanos | Mar 12, 2024
From the Pierce College website: “Houman Pourmehdi is a master percussionist, well known for his diverse abilities as a musician, composer and multi-instrumentalist, performing and recording in numerous ensembles and at a variety of venues. He was introduced to Persian music by his father, and received his first Tonbak at the age of three from his grandfather. He was privileged to study Tonbak under guidance of the late Grand Master Amir Nasser Eftetah. At sixteen, he continued his studies at the Center for Preservation and Propagation of National Music, where he completed the techniques of playing Tonbak under supervision of Master Morteza Ayan. His interest in the spiritual path of Sufis introduced him to the Ghaderi Sufi order’s virtuoso Daf players, such as Haj Agha Sadeghi, Mirza Agha Ghosi and Darvish Karim, with whom he studied the heart-to-heart traditional techniques of playing Daf.
Pourmehdi moved to Chicago in 1988, where he founded the Society for the Advancement and Preservation of Traditional Persian Music. It was here that he first fathomed the exciting possibilities of introducing the unique sounds of Persian instruments to American audiences. He also preserved the ancient Persian Percussive instrument called Kurekeh. The Society also facilitated his meeting the eminent Mohammad Ali Kianey-Nejad, who taught him the Ney (Persian Reed Pipe). Pourmehdi designed the tuneable Dayereh which is part of the cooperman’s Artist Innovation Series of instruments. Houman is both a recording artist and concert musician. He has appeared at many radio and TV interviews with live performance. He has performed widely throughout Europe, North America and North Africa. Pourmehdi composed music for a short educational film in 1999. His knowledge of traditional repertoire and intimacy with Sufi world are made to serve a very personal style of interpretation in his compositions. Along with several colleagues he founded The Lian Ensemble.”
This free concert will happen at the Performing Arts Building Thursday, March 14, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
