Under the Azure Dome: A Persian New Year Festival
An Iranian
Association at University of Toronto (IAUT) and Harbourfront
Centre co-production
March 17-19, 2006
Harbourfront Centre
The Iranian Association at University of Toronto and Harbourfront Centre invite you to celebrate the Persian New Year, known as “Nowruz”.
"Under
the Azure Dome" is the archetypal beginning of all Persian stories,
much like "Once Upon A Time" in Anglo-Saxon culture. The
"Azure Dome" is a metaphor for the blue sky.
This
is your invitation to come under the azure dome and experience a feast of
beautiful colors, enchanting sounds, and fluid movements; marvel at the
vitality and lightness of the "Heralding Spring" dance;
appreciate the poetic embrace of old and new in the Persian symphony
orchestra; relax and sip on some tea in a traditional teahouse setting;
partake in an assortment of performances and film debuts. Under the
Azure Dome features all aspects of Persian art and culture and has
something for everyone, with performances that cheerfully cast away the
past year and embrace the new.
Under the Azure Dome expresses Harbourfront Center’s current Ideas-Based Programming focus on BEAUTY through Persian culture with the delicacies of diverse ethnic groups and time-honored arts transformed to contemporary contexts.
Under the Azure Dome …
Opening Reception, Friday March 17th, 6 pm - 8 pm
Marilyn Brewer Community Space
Musical performances
[highlight
event for this section]
Sense
of Spring is a classical
concert featuring a fifty-plus member symphony orchestra. This is an
extraordinary opportunity for classical and Persian music lovers to sample
symphonic music by three eminent Iranian composers and a renowned Azeri
composer. The concert features prominent Canadian musicians engaged in
performing unique symphonic works - led by acclaimed conductor Mehdi
Javanfar.
The
Programme Features:
The
Legend of My Fatherland by Kurd composer Arsalaan Kamkar, a
symphonic suite in three movements, based on folk and original Kurdish
music by the orchestra.
Symphony
No. 5 by Shaahin Farhat,
the Iranian symphonist, features a well-known melody by Darvish Khan.
Azerbaijan
Capricio by Azeri composer, Fikret Amirov, is a spectacular
work for a large symphony orchestra. Amirov is well known among Azeris and
Iranians, but his melodies resonate globally.
The
Blood of Seyavash, originally commissioned by the Nashville
Ballet, it is the third piece in the Persian Trilogy. It is a cycle
of three orchestral works composed by Behzad Ranjbaran. The
trilogy was inspired by legends from "Shahnameh" from The Book
of Kings, the great Persian poetry epic written by the Persian poet,
Ferdowsi (c. 940-1020).
Some of these works will employ Iranian traditional instruments such as
the santoor, kamaancheh and daf.
Friday, March 17, 8:30 pm
Saturday, March 18, 8:30 pm
Tickets: $25-$40
Ticket Info: 416-973-4000
Harbourfront Centre Theatre
Hassan
Yousef Zamani, master composer and
musician, makes a return to the stage premiering his most recent
collection of Persian and Kurdish pieces.
Saturday, March 18, 4:30 pm
Sunday, March 19, 5:30 pm
Brigantine Room
Pirouz
Yousefian and Ed Hanley mix
Persian melodies with Indian rhythms to create an eclectic and rare fusion
of sounds.
Saturday, March 18, 6:30 pm
Brigantine Room
Shahrokh Saeedi features a duet performance of traditional Persian music.
Sunday, March 19, 12:30 pm
Brigantine Room
Facing
East is a culturally diverse group,
performing Bandari, a type of folk music from southern Iran, known for its
vibrancy and liveliness.
Saturday, March 18, 5 pm
Sunday, March 19, 6:30 pm
Lakeside Terrace
Behnam Jahanbeiglou with DJ Siamak
A late night show featuring a live band and DJ to get people up and
dancing!
Saturday, March 18, 11 pm - 1:30 am
Tickets: $12
Ticket Info: 416-973-4000
Brigantine Room
Music
Workshop
Mahin Mohajer and her students present a vocal workshop in Persian singing. Come and learn to sing the way people do in Iran.
Sunday, March 19, 2:30 pm
Brigantine Room
* Pre-registration is not required *
Dance
Performances
[Highlight
event for this section]
Shahrokh
Meshkin Ghalam
Paris-based dancer and
choreographer, performs three dances featuring various themes
ranging from Nowruz to the story of a mythical character, Shir-Ali Mardan,
in Lorestan, Iran.
Saturday March 18, 8 pm
Sunday March 19, 5 pm
Studio Theatre
Ida Meftahi performs five pieces showcasing the wide variety of movement traditions in Iran, ranging from female folk dances such Gilani and khorasani, to contemporary works inspired by men’s zoorkhaneh and stick dance, and the spiritual ceremony of Pirshalyar in Kurdistan.
Saturday March 18, 6:30 pm
Sunday March 19, 6:30 pm
Studio Theatre
Sashar
Zarif presents an excerpt from his
2006 Tour, "Meeting with Saghi". The performance will include a
selection of traditional/ritualistic Central Asian, Azerbaijani, and
Persian classical dance forms to live music original compositions by
Pirouz Yousefian with accompaniment by Amin Kargaran.
Saturday, March 18, 5 pm
Sunday, March 19, 8 pm
Studio Theatre
Fethi Karakecili, a graduate of the Dance Conservatory in Turkey, performs various folk dances from Turkey of Kurdish, Armenian and Assyrian backgrounds.
Saturday,
March 18, 1:30 pm
Sunday,
March 19, 1:30 pm
Lakeside Terrace
Theatre Performances
[highlight event for this section]
Soheil Parsa: Staged Reading of The Passion of Hallaj
The
award-winning director, actor, writer, dramaturge, choreographer and
teacher, presents a staged reading of "The Passion of Hallaj".
Accused of heresy, Hallaj, a legendary Sufi master, has been condemned to
death by the Orthodox religious authorities for his thoughts and
teachings; namely his claim of being "The Truth." On the day of
his execution, he is given the chance to recant his thoughts and save the
lives of his wife and son. In the final hours of his life, Hallaj
struggles to make a choice: hold on to his beliefs and sacrifice his
family, or recant and save their lives.
Saturday,
March 18, 1 pm
Sunday
March 19, 8 pm
Brigantine
Room
Sassan
Ghahreman presents an old art form
of reciting and acting out epic poems of Shahnameh (Book of Kings) in a
one-man-show in a traditional tea house setting.
Saturday, March 18, 7:30
Sunday,
March 19, 5 pm
Lakeside
Terrace
Vida
Ghahremani presents a variety of
puppet shows. Come see his puppets come alive to dance to live Banadari
music, deal with the challenges of immigration, and tell a new version of
a very old tale.
Saturday, March 18, 3 pm
Sunday, March 19, 3 pm
Lakeside Terrace
Cinema
[Highlight
event]
Film
Screening
Kambozia
Partovi, the award winning screenwriter (Border Café and Circle)
premieres two of his films, Nane
Lala (1997), First Prize Winner at the Frankfurt Film Festival (1998),
and Adult's Game, First Prize
Winner in the Fajr Film Festival (1992).
Nane
Lala: Saturday, March 18, 12:30 pm
Adult's
Game: Sunday, March 19, 12:30 pm
Studio
Theatre
*with
English subtitles*
Screenwriting
Workshop
Kombozia Partovi, the
acclaimed screenwriter, will lead a two-part workshop on
screenwriting.
Saturday, March 18, 4 pm – 6:30
pm
Sunday,
March 19, 4 pm – 6:30 pm
Harbourfront
Centre Tea Room
*Pre-registration required*
Cinema
Critique
Aref Mohammadi, host of the popular OMNI channel cinema-critique show,
Film and Cinema, presents
a two-part lecture series on pre-revolution and post-revolution Iranian
Cinema.
Saturday, March 18th,
11 am
Sunday,
March 19th, 11 am
Studio
Theatre
Visual Art Exhibition
Silence of Colours:
Contemporary Iranian/Canadian Artists
Curated
by Firouza Athari
Silence of Colours presents the artistic vitality of Iranian Canadian artists. The exhibition provides an opportunity to appreciate the scope of work by contemporary Iranian Artists living in Canada. Selected art at this exhibition presents various styles from miniature and calligraphy, to expressionism, video installation, and photography.
Friday,
March 17th: 6 pm - midnight
Saturday,
March 18th: 11 am – midnight
Sunday,
March 19th: 11 am – 8 pm
Marilyn
Brewer Community Space
BOUNTY:
featured artist
Highly-respected ceramic artist, Mahmoud Baghaeian (Montreal, Quebec) will display a small collection of his works in the BOUNTY store through March. His work is characterized by fluid, Persian-inspired motifs, blending classical contemporary forms and decoration.
Hours
Mon: Closed
Tue: 11 am - 6 pm
Wed – Sat: 11 am - 8 pm
Sun: 11 am - 6 pm
Children
Activities
Nasrin
Javanfar features a dynamic series of fun and educational activities
for children, ranging from egg colouring for Haft Seen to puppet shows and
dance performances.
Saturday, March 18, 11 am – 6 pm
Zoom Room
