Sayeh-Roshan (Chiaroscuro): Ali Kian Yazdanfar, double bass, Kimia Rafieian, piano & Fatemeh Keshavarz, poet

Sayeh-Roshan (Persian for “chiaroscuro”) is the interaction of light and shadow, and this idea can be easily applied to many aspects of modern life. In a politically and socially polarized world, there is a constant pressure to take a stand on one side or the other. However, life is more complex than simple black and white, and the in-between is not gray but rather a complex pattern unique to each individual. There is always interaction between competing desires, ideas and perspectives–past and present. Tradition and modernity. Beauty and ugliness. Sayeh-Roshan is centered around three new works for double bass and piano written specifically for this program; it asks the composers and performers to consider what their Persian identity means to them now, living in the West, and how a chiaroscuro-like interaction of the West and East has become a part of them.

Presented in partnership with the UMD Roshan Institute for Persian Studies.