CMSA to Premiere Two Works by Rising Stars Raven Chacon and Aftab Darvishi
Rochester, New York – The Classical Mandolin Society of America (CMSA) is thrilled to announce the world premieres of two groundbreaking new works at its upcoming 2024 convention. Commissioned through the Mandolins Make a Difference project, these pieces by emerging composers Aftab Darvishi and Raven Chacon will be performed by the CMSA En Masse Orchestra. Both composers will be in attendance to celebrate the occasion.
Darvishi and Chacon, both recognized for their innovative approaches to contemporary music, were selected to contribute to the Kronos Quartet’s 50 for the Future project, a testament to their exceptional talent. CMSA members are honored and thrilled to present these extraordinary new works by Aftab Darvishi and Raven Chacon.
The world premieres will take place at the convention’s final performance 7:30-9:30pm Saturday, November 2nd, 2024 at the Hyatt Regency Downtown Rochester as part of the En Masse Program. The En Masse Orchestra’s performance will be preceded by performances from the convention’s guest artists and section leaders.
The convention features concerts each evening October 31 – November 2 from 7:30-9:30pm. All performances are free and open to the public. Donations to the Classical Mandolin Society of America are greatly appreciated.
About the Composers
A recording artist over the span of 22 years, Chacon has appeared on more than eighty releases on various national and international labels. In 2022, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his composition Voiceless Mass. His 2020 Manifest Destiny opera Sweet Land, co-composed with Du Yun, received critical acclaim from The LA Times, The New York Times, and The New Yorker, and was named 2021 Opera of the Year by the Music Critics Association of North America.
Since 2004, he has mentored over 300 high school Native composers in the writing of new string quartets for the Native American Composer Apprenticeship Project (NACAP). Chacon is the recipient of the United States Artists fellowship in Music, The Creative Capital award in Visual Arts, The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation artist fellowship, the American Academy’s Berlin Prize for Music Composition, the Bemis Center’s Ree Kaneko Award, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award (2022), the Pew Fellow-in-Residence (2022), and is a 2023 MacArthur Fellow.
Composer Aftab Darvishi was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1987, to a musical family. She began playing the violin at the age of five, later switching to classical piano. She also learned several traditional Persian instruments including the kamancheh and setaar, in part thanks to the influence of her father, the renowned composer and music scholar Mohammad-Reza Darvishi.
After studying piano at the University of Tehran, she moved to the Netherlands, studying composition for film in Amsterdam and contemporary composition in The Hague. She is currently studying for a PhD in composition at the University of Birmingham, and is a regular guest lecturer at the University of Tehran.
Darvishi’s music combines aspects of her Western training with the deep influence of Persian music – sometimes through the use of traditional instruments, structures, modes or harmonies – reflecting a rich multiplicity of influences.
She has written music for film, theater, dance and concerts, and especially relishes multidisciplinary projects. Her work has been heard around the world. She has worked with ensembles including BBC Singers, Kronos Quartet, Orkest de Ereprijs, Helsinki Chamber Choir, Latvian Radio Choir, Riccioti Ensemble and Oerknal.
Darvishi was the first non-European female winner of the Tenso Young Composers Award in 2016 for her a cappella choral piece And the world stopped, lacking you… In 2017 she was commissioned to write a piece for the Kronos Quartet’s “50 for the Future” project. Since then she has collaborated frequently with the ensemble.
For more information email [email protected].