Soprano
superstar Renée Fleming will perform Ranjbaran's Songs of Eternity composed with
the poetry of Omar Khayyam
FORT
WORTH - Hailed as "the
most beautiful voice" of our time, American soprano Renée Fleming will perform
Behzad Ranjbaran's Songs of Eternity
on Tuesday, March 6 with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra at Bass Performance
Hall. The concert begins at 7 p.m.
Behzad
Ranjbaran
Ranjbaran's
three-song cycle features nine rube's
from the 12th century poetry of Omar Khayyam. It is remarkably
original as it fuses ancient poetry with modern thought. Fleming premiered Songs of Eternity with the Seattle
Symphony in 2002 to rave reviews. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer called it
"beautiful... particularly noteworthy were exquisite Melisa's (expressive passages
sung on one syllable) Ranjbaran wrote on words such as 'sorrow'" and the Seattle Times found "there was much to
praise in the score...certainly worth a second hearing." Ranjbaran dedicated the
work to Fleming, whom he met while they were both students at the Juilliard School. The composer will be in attendance
at the FWSO concert.
Ranjbaran's music
has been performed by such internationally acclaimed artists as Joshua Bell and
Yo-Yo Ma, among others. He began his music studies at the age of nine at the
Tehran Music Conservatory. He came to the United
States in 1974, attended Indiana University, and received his doctorate from the
Juilliard
School, where he has been a
faculty member since 1991. Named "Distinguished Artist" by the New Jersey
Council on the Arts, Ranjbaran has received grants from the National Endowment
for the Arts and Meet the Composer (composer/choreographer project), and the
Charles Ives Award from the American Academy of Arts and
Letters.
Fleming is a
Grammy Award-winning soprano who has cultivated a devoted following for her
brilliant musicianship, intelligence and interpretive ability, nationally and
internationally.
The Gala program
also includes Lehar's Vilja-Lied from The Merry Widow, Mozart's Exsultate, jubilate, K. 158a (K. 165),
and Richard Strauss's Zueignung, Op.
10, No. 1 and Morgen, Op. 27, No. 4 as well as Mozart's Overture to The Magic Flute, Rimsky-Korsakov's
Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34 and Voices of Spring, Waltzes, Op. 410 by Johann
Strauss, Jr.
The FWSO
gratefully acknowledges the Star-Telegram and RadioShack for their
generous support of the Gala concert.
Tickets are $20 -
$99 and are available online at www.fwsymphony.org, by telephone at
817-665-6000, or by visiting the FWSO Ticket Office at 330 E. Fourth Street, Suite
200, in downtown Fort Worth. The ticket office is open from 9
a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Saturday.
