Name: Nico Muhly’s The Bell Études
Start: 2024-09-07T19:00:00
Location: Guild Hall

Conor Hanick

Guild Hall

Traversing the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, Silkroad presents a brand new trio seamlessly blending three disparate narratives of language and sound. Three internationally acclaimed, genre-bending artists who each have been credited with reshaping the landscape of their respective instruments through their unique improvisational styles and compositional voices. 

Hailing from Damascus, Syria, Kinan Azmeh has been taking the international music scene by storm with his unique blending of Eastern and Western styles, bombastic improvisation and large-scale compositions for orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic and the Seattle Symphony. 

Acclaimed composer and instrumentalist Kaoru Watanabe‘s work is grounded in traditional Japanese music while imbued with contemporary jazz, improvisation, and experimental music elements, working with such figures as Laurie Anderson, Jason Moran and André 3000. 

Scottish harper and composer Maeve Gilchrist has been credited with bringing the Celtic harp to new levels of visibility through her unique improvisational and textural approach to the instrument and her collaborations with artists such as from Arooj Aftab, Yo-Yo Ma, The Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Esperanza Spalding.

Silkroad Up Close: Kaoru Watanabe, Kinan Azmeh, and Maeve Gilchrist

Conor Hanick (piano) performs a new set of études from Nico Muhly’s “The Bell Études” collection, with selected works by Gabriella Smith, Samuel Adams, and Julius Eastman, in an intimate evening of music. Conceived after conversations during some of the darker moments of the pandemic, Conor and Nico have collaborated on several works, including the previously premiered first set of six études performed at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, CA.