Live Music Meditation:
Kayhan Kalhor, Kamancheh

Breathe in sound and silence through guided meditation as you listen to music more viscerally than ever before, meditating to the playing of kamancheh (Iranian spiked fiddle) player Kayhan Kalhor, guided by Matthew Weiner, Associate Dean in the Princeton University Office of Religious Life. This is a FREE, unticketed opportunity to indulge in attentive, focused, and mindful listening.

No prior experience with meditation necessary. Capacity is limited, and we advise participants to arrive early—although the event officially begins at 12:30PM, doors to the hall will open and meditation instruction will begin at 12:00PM (noon). The event will conclude by 1:30PM. If desired, attendees may bring floor seating (mat/cushion/etc); seating will be on stage, with chairs provided. For more information about the Live Music Meditation experience, check out this New York Times feature and Performance Today segment. 

This Live Music Meditation event is co-sponsored by the Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies at Princeton University.

About the Musician:

Three-time GRAMMY nominee Kayhan Kalhor is an internationally acclaimed virtuoso on the kamancheh, who through his many musical collaborations has been instrumental in popularizing Persian music in the West and is a creative force in today’s music scene. His performances of traditional Persian music and multiple collaborations have attracted audiences around the globe. He has studied the music of Iran’s many regions, in particular those of Khorason and Kordestan, and has toured the world as a soloist with various ensembles and orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and the Orchestre National de Lyon. He is co-founder of the renowned ensembles Dastan, Ghazal: Persian & Indian Improvisations and Masters of Persian Music. Kayhan Kalhor has composed works for Iran’s most renowned vocalists Mohammad Reza Shajarian and Shahram Nazeri and has also performed and recorded with Iran’s greatest instrumentalists. He has composed music for television and film and was most recently featured on the soundtrack of Francis Ford Copolla’s Youth Without Youth in a score that he collaborated on with Osvaldo Golijov. In 2004, Kayhan was invited by American composer John Adams to give a solo recital at Carnegie Hall as part of his Perspectives Series and in the same year he appeared on a double bill at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, sharing the program with the Festival Orchestra performing the Mozart Requiem. Kayhan was a founding member of the Silkroad Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma and his compositions appear on several of the Ensemble’s albums.

Additional Concerts:

Kayhan Kalhor will also perform the evening before as part of the Healing with Music series (info & tickets); and the following evening with the DoosTrio on the Performances Up Close series, with audience seated onstage (info & tickets).