Art of the Duo: Kinan Azmeh and Dinuk Wijeratne

Back for the first time as a duo since 2019: Award-winning composers and performers Dinuk Wijeratne & Kinan Azmeh fuse elements of Arabic and South-Asian vocabulary with classical and jazz music idioms to create a new sonic world.

Tickets are by donation, students free. This event will be livestreamed.

About Kinan Azmeh

Hailed by critics and audiences alike, winner of Opus Klassik award in 2019 clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh has gained international recognition for his distinctive voice across diverse musical genres.

Originally from Damascus, Syria, Kinan Azmeh brings his music to all corners of the world as a soloist, composer and improviser. Notable appearances include the Opera Bastille, Paris; Tchaikovsky Grand Hall, Moscow; Carnegie Hall and the UN General Assembly, New York; the Royal Albert Hall, London; Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires; Philharmonie, Berlin; the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, Washington DC; the Mozarteum, Salzburg, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie; and in his native Syria at the opening concert of the Damascus Opera House.

He has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Dusseldorf Symphony, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, The Azerbaijan State Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia, Toronto Symphony, A Far Cry, The Knights Orchestra, Calgary philharmonic, Qatar Philharmonic and the Syrian Symphony Orchestra among others, and has shared the stage with such musical luminaries as Yo-Yo Ma, Daniel Barenboim, Marcel Khalife, John McLaughlin, Francois Rabbath, Aynur and Jivan Gasparian.

Kinan’s compositions include several works for solo, chamber, and orchestral music, as well as music for film, live illustration, and electronics. His resent works were commissioned by The New York Philharmonic, The Seattle Symphony, The Knights Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Elbphilharmonie, Apple Hill string quartet, Quatuor Voce, Brooklyn Rider, Cello Octet Amsterdam, Aizuri Quartet and Bob Wilson.

An advocate for new music, several concertos were dedicated to him by composers such as Kareem Roustom, Dia Succari, Dinuk Wijeratne, Zaid Jabri, Saad Haddad and Guss Janssen, in addition to a large number of chamber music works.

In addition to his own Arab-Jazz Quartet CityBand and his Hewar trio, he has also been playing with the Silkroad Ensemble since 2012, whose 2017 Grammy Award-winning album “Sing Me Home” features Kinan as a clarinetist and composer.

Kinan Azmeh is a graduate of New York’s Juilliard School as a student of Charles Neidich, and of both the Damascus High institute of Music where he studied with Shukry Sahwki, Nicolay Viovanof and Anatoly Moratof, and Damascus University’s School of Electrical Engineering. Kinan earned his doctorate degree in music from the City University of New York in 2013.

His first opera “Songs for Days to Come” which is fully sung in Arabic, was recently premiered in Osnabruck, Germany in June 2022 to a great acclaim. He has recently been appointed to the National Council for the Arts on a nomination by President Joe Biden.

About Dinuk Wijeratne

Sri Lankan-born Canadian Dinuk Wijeratne is a JUNO and multi-award-winning composer, conductor, and pianist who has been described by the New York Times as ‘exuberantly creative’, by the Toronto Star as ‘an artist who reflects a positive vision of our cultural future’, and by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra as ‘a modern polymath’. His boundary-crossing work sees him equally at home in collaborations with symphony orchestras and string quartets, tabla players and DJs, and takes him to international venues as poles apart as the Berlin Philharmonie and the North Sea Jazz Festival.

Dinuk was featured as a main character in ‘What would Beethoven do?’ – the 2016 documentary about innovation in classical music featuring Eric Whitacre, Bobby McFerrin and Ben Zander. Forthcoming projects include new works for Grammy-winning baritone Elliot Madore (featuring Dinuk as pianist) and Grammy-nominated mandolinist Avi Avital, the test piece for the Banff International String Quartet Competition 2022, and conducting debuts with the Calgary Philharmonic and Qatar Philharmonic, Doha.

Dinuk made his Carnegie Hall debut while still a student in 2004 as a composer, conductor, and pianist performing with Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. A second Carnegie appearance followed in 2009, alongside tabla legend Zakir Hussain. Dinuk has also appeared at the BoulezSaal (Berlin), Kennedy Center (Washington DC), Opéra Bastille (Paris), Lincoln Center (New York), Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), Sri Lanka, Japan, and across the Middle East. Dinuk grew up in Dubai before taking up composition studies at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), Manchester, UK. In 2001, he was invited by Oscar-winning composer John Corigliano to join his studio at New York’s Juilliard School. Conducting studies followed at New York’s Mannes College of Music, and doctoral studies under Christos Hatzis at the University of Toronto.

Dinuk has composed specially for almost all of the artists and ensembles with whom he has performed; to name a few: Suzie LeBlanc, David Jalbert, James Ehnes, Kinan Azmeh, Bev Johnston, Joseph Petric, Sandeep Das, Tim Garland, Ed Thigpen, Ramesh Misra, Barry Guy, Eric Vloeimans, Buck 65, DJ Skratch Bastid, the Gryphon Trio, the Afiara, Danel & Cecilia String Quartets, the Apollo Saxophone Quartet, TorQ Percussion, and the Symphony orchestras of Toronto, Vancouver, the National Arts Centre, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Buffalo, Illinois, Fresno, Asheville, Saskatoon, Windsor, Victoria, PEI, and Thunder Bay. Dinuk is the only artist to have served both as Conductor-in-Residence and Composer-in-Residence of a Canadian orchestra (Symphony Nova Scotia).

A passionate educator, Dinuk is committed to helping emerging and mid-career classical artists navigate the classical music industry in today’s increasingly complex, diverse, and globalized world. As a Creativity Consultant he serves private clients as well as students of the Banff Centre (Evolution Classical) and Toronto’s Glenn Gould School. His educational guide ‘Define Your Artistic Voice’ was downloaded 150 times from his blog within the first two days of its release. Dinuk also served as Music Director of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra for thirteen seasons. He is also the recipient of the Canada Council Jean-Marie Beaudet award for orchestral conducting; the NS Established Artist Award; NS Masterworks nominations for his Tabla Concerto and piano trio Love Triangle; double Merritt Award nominations; Juilliard, Mannes, & Countess of Munster scholarships; the Sema Jazz Improvisation Prize; the Soroptimist International Award for Composer-Conductors; and the Sir John Manduell Prize – the RNCM’s highest student honour. His music and collaborative work embrace the great diversity of his international background and influences.

Garifuna Collective (at rain venue)

DUE TO THE ANTICIPATED RAIN AND THUDERSTORMS THIS EVENT HAS BEEN MOVED TO THE RAIN LOCATION.

Join us for the acclaimed Afro-Carribean band. Rain location: Union Episcopal Church. Bring your own chair or blanket. This event is a collaboration with Claremont Parks and Recreation.

This program is supported in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.

The Garifuna Collective from Belize has begun a New England tour, running June 30th through June 20th including 12 concerts, all in New England, aside from a stop in London Ontario for the prestigious Sunfest. The band, renowned for their captivating performances and powerful celebration of Garifuna culture, has performed on major festival stages around the world, and their upcoming tour includes stops in notably smaller communities across New England including with the West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts in Claremont, NH. Audiences can expect an enchanting journey through Garifuna traditions as the Collective presents their unique sound that spans traditional songs, modern compositions, and vibrant reinterpretations of classic Garifuna melodies.

Hailing from the Caribbean coast of Central America, the Garifuna people are descendants of West African, Indigenous Arawak, and Carib peoples, with a rich history of resilience, cultural preservation, and musical expression.The Garifuna language was designated by UNESCO as a “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” in 2001.

In addition to the inspiring performances, the Garifuna Collective’s tour will offer educational workshops and various opportunities for cultural exchange, fostering a deeper understanding of the Garifuna people, their heritage, and their ongoing contributions to the world of music. The tour was funded in a large part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies. The NEST Grant has allowed a diverse array of community organizations to host the artists for a tour of free or sliding scale accessible concerts through Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Of the 12 stops on their tour, 7 nonprofit organizations have received support from NEFA to support the tour.

_______

“The meeting point where ancient meets modern, this music stretches forward defying the listener to pin it down. Whatever people mean about music being universal, surely that is the perfect demonstration of their argument.”

– The Observer (UK).

Based in Belize, The Garifuna Collective are one of the most unique Afro-Caribbean bands on the planet. As representatives of the Garifuna people – a separate language and culture group spread across several countries in Central America – they harness the indomitable energy of their African and Indigenous ancestors, generating an irrepressible, positive energy every time they perform.

They have created feverish dance floors in over 30 countries across 5 continents and have been part of the most celebrated world music releases of all time, including the critically acclaimed Wátina – recipient of the Womex and BBC World Music Award and voted by Amazon as the Number One World Music Album of All Time.

Bassel and the Supernaturals (RAIN LOCATION)

UPDATE FOR RAIN CONTINGENCY:

Bassel and the Supernaturals will appear at the rain location: West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts at Union Church, 133 Old Church Rd. The July 4th festivities will be held at Monadnock Park on JULY 5TH.

It is very helpful if you register in advance just in case we have a big audience (we have no idea!)

____________

Join us for Bassel and the Supernaturals presented by Claremont Parks and Recreation and Sponsored by the West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts. In the event of rain Bassel and the Supernaturals will perform at Union Episcopal Church, and the July 4th festivities will happen on July 5th. No tickets necessary.

Echoing Stevie Wonder’s rhythm and blues, Jamiroquai’s social justice centered lyricism over jazz-infused funk, and Steely Dan’s seamless amalgam of American music, Bassel & The Supernaturals evoke joy and thoughtfulness in diverse audiences throughout hundreds of cities across North America. In addition to performing in major festivals, performance halls, concert series, and clubs, the group works closely with organizations on events and residencies that build awareness and empathy for Syrian refugees and immigrants. Deeply inspired by Otis Redding, Bassel uses the stage as a vehicle to unite his listeners and share the story of his cultural duality. Bassel & The Supernaturals tells the story of Bassel Almadani’s experience as a first generation Syrian-American using soulful melodies, funk inspired rhythms, and captivating lyrics.

Schedule of Events

6 PM – Food Vendors Open

6:30 PM – 9:30 PM – Bassel and the Supernaturals Performance

9:30 PM – Fireworks Show

View full details about the Claremont July 4th celebration here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1000669184426564

The excitement will begin at Monadnock Park at 6PM with many local vendors on hand selling food, drinks and novelty items. We are excited to have Bassel and the Supernaturals as our feature entertainment. All of these fun events will lead up to the spectacular fireworks show at 9:30PM to conclude the evening. This event would not be made possible without the support from your local Claremont Parks & Recreation Department and Claremont Wal-Mart. This is a FREE community event, however donations are graciously accepted. We will also have a 50/50 raffle the night of the event with all proceeds going toward next year’s firework show! Try your luck at our 50 / 50 raffle or simply stop by our table with a donation. This is a FREE event to the public! As always, we will keep you up-to-date as info. becomes as available on our website and Facebook page. www.claremontparks.com and https://www.facebook.com/ClaremontParks

Parking spaces will be available along Broad Street and Pleasant Street. Only handicapped and authorized vendor parking will be allowed at Monadnock Park. In the event of inclement weather, the rain date for this event will be on July 5th. Please be sure to visit www.claremontparks.com or like us on Facebook @ClaremontParks for up-to-date schedules and announcements for the July 4th celebration.