Persian New Year Observed with Nationwide Radio Broadcast of
Music by Iranian-American Composer Reza Vali
Toward that Endless Plain, a concerto for Persian ney, to be heard on 90 stations via American Public Media’s Symphony Cast
Los Angeles, CA (March 5, 2009)-The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) is pleased to announce that its performance of Toward that Endless Plain, a concerto for Persian ney by Iranian-born composer Reza Vali, will be broadcast across the US in conjunction with the Persian new year. A LACO co-commission, the work is inspired by mystic poet Sohrab Sepehri and features ney virtuoso Khosrow Soltani. The two-hour SymphonyCast program also offers performances of Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1, “Classical” and the “Reformation” Symphony of Mendelssohn, plus interviews with the artists, including composer Vali.
American Public Media will make the program available to its carrier stations beginning on March 16, 2009. Listeners in Southern California can tune in on Saturday, March 21 at 6:00 pm to Classical KUSC 91.5 FM in Los Angeles and its affiliates in Santa Barbara (KQSC 88.7 FM), Palm Springs (KPSC 88.5 FM) and Thousand Oaks (KDSC 91.1 FM). A complete SymphonyCast carriage list is attached; listeners should consult their local stations for exact dates and times of broadcast. A live concert featuring Vali’s work was recorded on Sunday, November 3, 2007 at UCLA’s Royce Hall before a packed house of classical music enthusiasts, many from the Persian community, eager to hear its West Coast premiere. An accomplished composer, Vali says that this complex work is distinctly post-9/11 in its exploration of the interaction of East and West, which can often be violent. In this composition, the voice of the ney acts as protagonist as it tries to escape from the violence in order to find peace. “[Using] the orchestra…interactively as a part of a scenario based on a Persian mystical poem…” The
Los Angeles Times praised the “magical moments” of Vali’s Toward that Endless Plain, describing it as “a flute concerto like no other…[a] resourceful exploration of the ney’s mysterious, haunting and evocative timbral qualities” and “essentially a journey in sound” (2007).
The full concert to be broadcast begins with Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1 in D major, “Classical,” Op. 25 (1917), continues with the Reza Vali concerto, and concludes with Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5 in D major, “Reformation,” Op. 107 (1832).
Additional broadcast information:
SymphonyCast Stations
XM, Sirius, and International
Market
Station
Frequency
Broadcast Day
Broadcast Time
Inside the U.S.
State
Market
Station
Frequency
Broadcast Day
Broadcast Time
AK
Fairbanks, AK
KUAC-FM
89.9
Th
08:00 PM
Juneau, AK
KRNN-FM
102.7
M
01:00 PM
Th
09:00 PM
AL
Dothan, AL
WRWA-FM
88.7
W
07:00PM
Troy, AL
WTSU-FM
89.9
W
07:00 PM
AR
Little Rock, AR
KLRE-FM
90.5
W
08:00PM
Texarkana, TX-AR
KTXK-FM
91.5 FM
Th
10:00PM
AZ
Phoenix, AZ
KBAQ-FM
89.5
W
07:00 PM
CA
Los Angeles, CA
KUSC-FM
91.5
Su
04:00PM
KUSC-FMHD1
Su
04:00PM
Palm Springs, CA
KPSC-FM
88.5
Su
04:00PM
KPSC-FMHD1
Su
04:00PM
San Francisco, CA
KDFC-FM
102.1
Su
08:00 PM
Santa Barbara, CA
KQSC-FM
88.7
Su
04:00PM
KQSC-FMHD1
Su
04:00PM
Thousand Oaks, CA
KDSC-FM
91.1
Su
04:00PM
KDSC-FMHD1
Su
04:00PM
