Schedule

Thursday, January 25, 2024
7:30 p.m. Performance

Since September 16, 2022, the Iranian people have been protesting in what has come to be known as the “Woman-Life-Freedom” movement, calling for freedom, human rights, minority rights, and women’s rights to self-expression. Hundreds of Iranians have been murdered, including at least 60 children under the age of 17, and thousands have been arrested, tortured, and raped. During this time, an extraordinary amount of protest art has arisen from the streets that includes more than 40 protest songs.

Echoes of Change is a collaborative performance debuting eight new solo piano pieces, inspired by a protest song from the “Woman-Life-Freedom” movement. Created and in performance by a collective of four pianists and eight Iranian composers — four residing in North America, four in Iran — this concert seeks to write a musical history that celebrates the movement and honors the bravery of the Iranian people.

This project was made possible through the generous support of the Presser Foundation, through the Graduate Music Award, and New Music USA through the New Music Creator Fund.

Creative Team

Pianists
David Kalhous
Caroline Owen
Ariel Mo
James Palmer

Composers
Pedram Diba
Badie Khaleghian (Project Leader)
Bahar Royaee
Parisa Sabet
MK*
NN*
SH*
FE*

*The full names of the composers living in Iran are being withheld to protect their identities.

About the Artists

Pianist David Kalhous has gained recognition and critical acclaim in the United States and Europe for his wide-ranging repertoire and adventurous programming spanning more than three centuries. He has appeared as a soloist with Prague Symphony Orchestra, Prague Philharmonia, Israel Symphony Orchestra, Moravian Philharmonic, and Chamber Philharmonia Pardubice. As a recitalist and a chamber musician, he performed to critical acclaim at the Prague Spring Festival, Gilmore Keyboard Festival, Krumlov Festival, Czech Philharmonic Chamber Music Series, and Czech Radio's Live Rising Stars Series. In New York City, he appears at Bargemusic, Symphony Center, Spectrum and Czech Center NYC; in Chicago, at PianoForte Foundation, Ganz Hall and Constellation.

For more information, please visit davidkalhous.com and praguepiano.org.

A passionate solo and chamber musician with an unceasing curiosity for music from the 18th century to today, pianist Ariel Mo brings “an exceptional courage to confront the unknown, and unborn ideas and sounds” to every project. Most recently, Ariel has performed in Boston, New York, Baltimore, and Germany in venues such as Jordan Hall, Residenz Munich, the Cutler Majestic Theatre, and Spectrum NYC; upcoming recitals in 2023 will include works by Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Messiaen, Schoenberg, Stockhausen, and a solo commission from Chicago-based composer Dongryul Lee.

A native of Atlanta, pianist Caroline Owen frequently performs as a soloist and collaborator. She has played in venues across the U.S. and in Europe, including the DiMenna Center for Classical Music (New York) and the Wiener Saal and Solitär at the Mozarteum (Salzburg).

Owen was the winner of the Florida MTNA Young Artist Competition and a semifinalist in both the 14th International Mozart Competition Salzburg and the International Keyboard Odyssiad. She also won the 2018 Pro-Mozart Society of Atlanta Competition, from which she received a scholarship to study at the Salzburg Mozarteum. Her 2023-2024 schedule includes solo and collaborative performances in the U.S., Canada, and the Czech Republic. Owen has performed at festivals including PianoFest in the Hamptons, PianoTexas, Atlantic Music Festival, and the Prague Piano Festival, and she has worked with distinguished artists such as Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Richard Goode, Ursula Oppens, and Pascal Rogé, among others. With a background in dance, Owen enjoys her ongoing interdisciplinary collaborations with Badie Khaleghian. The duo's most recent work, Electric Sky Blue (2022), has been performed in festivals across the U.S. and internationally. Since completing her doctoral degree from Florida State University in 2022, Owen resides in Atlanta, where she serves as an Artist Affiliate at Emory University and the Co-Director of the Decatur Fine Arts Academy.

Equally at home as a soloist, collaborator, presenter, and educator, James Palmer is a dynamic young pianist based in Houston, Texas. An active member of the Houston music scene, Mr. Palmer regularly performs in venues throughout the city. Recent solo and chamber appearances include the Music in Context Chamber Series, Musiqa, Lone Star College Montgomery, and numerous solo recitals for church music series in the area. He is a featured performer for the Houston Public Library’s Houston in Harmony series, performing biweekly performances at the HPL’s central branch, and was also a featured performer for the Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s Summer Nights Gallery Exhibit in summer 2023.  He also regularly gives solo recitals, chamber appearances, and lecture-recitals throughout the United States.  

Find out more at jamespalmerpiano.com

Pedram Diba (b. 1993) is an Iranian American composer of acoustic, acousmatic, and mixed music currently residing in Paris. Diba's music features intricate, ever-evolving soundscapes that consistently reveal interconnected relationships among various sound elements and components, offering a distinctive and intellectually engaging listening experience. His compositions have been showcased in festivals and conferences such as SEAMUS, IRCAM Forum, CIRMMT-ACTOR Symposium, Festival Temporel, NOVA Contemporary Music Meeting, and New Music Gathering, among others. Since 2019, Diba has been a member of the Analysis, Creation, and Teaching of Orchestration (ACTOR) Project. Through ACTOR, he has participated in and initiated various research-creation projects, including the CORE Ensemble Project, Musicians Auditory Perception (MAP), and Space As Timbre (SAT), which have led to peer-reviewed publications as a direct outcome of these projects.

As an innovative composer and multimedia artist, Badie Khaleghian has received recognition on both a national and international scale. Badie showcased his work, Electric Sky Blue, on stages across four countries —  including South Korea, Argentina, Canada, and the United States. Over the years, Badie has secured prestigious honors, such as grants from New Music USA, the Theodore Presser Music Award, and the City of Houston’s Support for Artists and Creative Individuals Award. A composer fellow at the Ucross Foundation Artist Residency and Avolach Farm Music Institute, Badie’s ethos as an artist-citizen is to broaden the audience for new music. A recent curation titled Unchained exemplifies this, exploring audacious stories of women who defied societal norms through an array of multimedia elements. Badie’s commitment to artist citizenry, equality, and inclusion is deeply rooted in his personal experience as a refugee and immigrant having a first-hand experience with being persecuted and banned from his human rights.

This unique background fuels a dedication to equitable access to education and representation for underprivileged students. Honored to serve as an international academic volunteer, Badie contributed to the development of a Bachelor of Music in Composition program at the Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education, countering educational discrimination in Iran. Additionally, within the Houston area, Badie teaches music composition to economically disadvantaged high school students, aiming to provide equal access to art and music education locally.

Born and raised in Iran, Bahar Royaee is a composer of concert and incidental music. Her compositions are a mixture of timbral and sound-based atmospheric structures, interspersed with lyrical influences derived from her Iranian background. Her works have been performed worldwide, including Italy, Greece, Germany, Canada, Iran, and the USA. Bahar was recently recognized as a runner-up in National Sawdust's 2018-19 Hildegard Competition. Other awards include the Roger Sessions Memorial Composition Award, Walter W. Harp Music & Society Award, John Bavicchi Memorial Prize, and the Korourian Electroacoustic Award. Bahar received her M.M. in composition from Boston Conservatory, where she studied with Marti Epstein and Felipe Lara, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. from CUNY where she studies under Jason Eckardt and Suzanne Farrin.

Dr. Parisa Sabet is a composer of electroacoustic, acoustic, and film music. Her most recent interdisciplinary work, Silent, was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement in Toronto. Commissioned by the Charsu Quartet, and supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, she collaborated as both a composer and sound artist to create a media-music-performance work inspired by Wind-Up Doll, a poem by controversial modernist and iconoclast Iranian poet, Forugh Farrokhzad (1934 – 1967). Blue Girl is another of her recent works: a three-channel project created in collaboration with visual artist Raheleh Saneie, Blue Girl honors the stories of women who self-immolate as a form of protest against domestic violence and forced marriage. Presented at the 2020 virtual Nuit Blanche Festival, it was recognized by Now Toronto magazine as a “Stellar Highlight” of that year’s arts scene. Blue Girl was subsequently presented as part of the 2022 iteration of Toronto’s Nuit Blanche festival, in Mel Lastman Square. Her debut album, A Cup of Sins, was released on August 26, 2022.

For more information please visit her website at: www.parisasabet.com

Performing Arts and Culture programs at Asia Society Texas are presented by Syamal and Susmita Poddar. Major support comes from Nancy C. Allen, Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, The Brown Foundation, Inc., the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance, The Clayton Fund, Houston Endowment Inc. Generous funding also provided by The Anchorage Foundation of Texas, The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts, and Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas), National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts. Additional support is by the Friends of Asia Society, a dedicated group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing exceptional programming to Asia Society Texas.

Performing Arts and Culture Presenting Sponsors

Syamal and Susmita Poddar

Performing Arts and Culture Program Sponsors

Piano Sponsored by Kawai Piano Gallery

About Asia Society Texas

Asia Society Texas believes in the strength and beauty of diverse perspectives and people. As an educational institution, we advance cultural exchange by celebrating the vibrant diversity of Asia, inspiring empathy, and fostering a better understanding of our interconnected world. Spanning the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, our programming is rooted in the educational and cultural development of our community — trusting in the power of art, dialogue, and ideas to combat bias and build a more inclusive society.