Forbidden Echoes
Concertgebouw Orchestra plays new music by Iranian composers
In the Holland Festival, Western and Persian instruments together create extraordinary sound worlds as Concertgebouw Orchestra and Iranian musicians perform new compositions full of melancholy, beauty and fierce protest by composers from Iran, either at home or living in exile.
Western and Persian instruments mix and create new sound worlds in the subtle music.
Concert programme
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Nader Adabnejad
Work for ney, Iranian percussion and strings (commission, world premiere)
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Golfam Khayam
Concerto for viola, santur and ensemble (new arrangement)
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Hani Mojtahedy / Andi Toma
Forbidden Echoes (new arrangement: Ian Anderson)
Performers
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André de Ridder
conductor
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Michael Gieler
solo viola
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Kioomars Musayyebi
santur
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Hani Mojtahedi
zang
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Andi Toma
electronics
About this concert
A unique collaboration: join us as we perform new music by composers from Iran under the baton of André de Ridder, featuring some amazing soloists. Western and Persian instruments mix and create new sound worlds in the subtle music of Tehran-based composer Golfam Khayam and a world premiere by young Iranian composer Nader Adabnejad, who lives and works in the Netherlands. The Kurdisch singer and composer Hani Mojtahedy reflects on her personal experiences as an expelled artist in the song cycle Forbidden Echoes, enriched by the electronic layering of German producer Andi Toma (of Mouse On Mars fame) and Ian Anderson's lush orchestration.
Persia has a long, rich musical tradition that has constantly been subject to renewal, years of repression alternating with periods when connection with Western cultures was encouraged. After the 1978-79 Iranian revolution, most public music performances were banned; in today's Iran, the distribution of music is controlled by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and the state broadcaster. Nevertheless, Iranian musicians around the world, including those in Iran itself, see opportunities to enrich the world with extraordinary new music.
On 2 and 3 October 2025, the Concertgebouw Orchestra will perform another work by Golfam Khayam, I am not a tale to be told, featuring Barbara Hannigan as conductor and vocal soloist.
This concert is in collaboration with the Holland Festival.
Dates and tickets
About this concert
A unique collaboration: join us as we perform new music by composers from Iran under the baton of André de Ridder, featuring some amazing soloists. Western and Persian instruments mix and create new sound worlds in the subtle music of Tehran-based composer Golfam Khayam and a world premiere by young Iranian composer Nader Adabnejad, who lives and works in the Netherlands. The Kurdisch singer and composer Hani Mojtahedy reflects on her personal experiences as an expelled artist in the song cycle Forbidden Echoes, enriched by the electronic layering of German producer Andi Toma (of Mouse On Mars fame) and Ian Anderson's lush orchestration.
Persia has a long, rich musical tradition that has constantly been subject to renewal, years of repression alternating with periods when connection with Western cultures was encouraged. After the 1978-79 Iranian revolution, most public music performances were banned; in today's Iran, the distribution of music is controlled by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and the state broadcaster. Nevertheless, Iranian musicians around the world, including those in Iran itself, see opportunities to enrich the world with extraordinary new music.
On 2 and 3 October 2025, the Concertgebouw Orchestra will perform another work by Golfam Khayam, I am not a tale to be told, featuring Barbara Hannigan as conductor and vocal soloist.
This concert is in collaboration with the Holland Festival.