Heart Strums featuring Hossein Alizadeh and Hossein Behroozinia
Edison Box Office: (314) 935-6543
Ticket Pricing
$30 - $40 Adult
$20 - WU Fac/Staff
$20 - Non WU Students
$15 - WU Graduate Students
Free - WU Undergrad Students (available as a student rush ticket night of show)
Hossein Alizadeh a master Lute (Tar) has been nominated for the 2007 Grammy Award along with Armenian musician, Djivan Gasparyan, for their collaboration album, The Endless Vision. In 2008, he was voted as "Iran's most distinguished musician of the year." In November 28, 2014, he was awarded for France’s high distinction in art, Legion of Honor.
Hossein Behroozinia (Persian: born 1962 in Tehran) is an Iranian barbat and oud player. Behroozinia was a student at the Tehran Conservatory of Music, where he studied oud, tar, setar, tonbak, and daf. He studied oud under the supervision of Mansour Nariman, and learned the radif under the supervision of Mohammad Reza Lotfi. He was eventually appointed to be the music director of Ensemble Khaleghi, as well as the director of music education at the Center of the Preservation Persian music. In 2003, the Ministry of Culture of Iran decorated him with the "First Order of Arts," its highest honor. Behroozinia's 2006 album From Stone to Diamond placed second in the Middle Eastern Album category at the Just Plain Folks Music Awards.
Behnam Valikhani Samani was born 1967 in Chahar Mahai, Bakhtiari in Iran. He started studying tonbak at the age of 13 with D. Mohebi who was situated in Isfahan. He has been performing in Europe since 1987. He has collaborated with some of the most celebrated Iranian musicians including F. Paywar, M. Zarief and R. Badie. He has worked with international artists such as Hariprasad Chaurasia, D. Schneider and H. Mischke on several acting and musical projects. Behnam has performed with Karavane and leads Ensemble Samani. In 2001, he toured the USA, Britain, Brazil and Canada with the Dastan Ensemble. He has performed at distinguished festivals including the Music Festival 2001 in Sao Paulo, the Persian Music Festivals in Munich, Sweden and Italy, the Rhythm Stick Festival in London and the Rhythm Festival Zurich. Over the past years he played in prestigious concert halls such as Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, Gastgeig in Munich and Rasa in Utrecht. He has performed for the SWF and WDR Radio Stations in Germany and has numerous recordings and television appearances. He currently resides in Cologne, Germany
Saba Alizadeh is a performer/ composer and a virtuoso on the Kamancheh (Persian spike fiddle). He was born in tehran in 1983. Saba- the son of the internationally acclaimed virtuoso Hossein Alizadeh- started playing Kamancheh from the age of 10 under the supervision of Saeed Farajpouri and Kayhan Kalhor. He has achieved an MFA in music from the Herb Albert School of Music at the California Institute of the Arts. Saba has toured extensively throughout Europe and North America and Mexico. Alizadeh’s musical career is divided in two separate paths. Performing and composing on the kamancheh in Persian traditional form as well as collaborating with other musical traditions such as Indian, Mexican, and early European music in such ensembles as Nour and the Land Trio, which he co-founded. Saba also composes in the experimental tradition. These electroacoustic compositions mostly deal with every day social political issues. Saba is also an internationally acclaimed photographer. His latest series "Light & Soil" has been exhibited in such cities as Moscow, Paris, and Kuwait, alongside acclaimed artists such as Shirin Neshat.