Saffron Caravan 2009 Bios
ALBERTO MIZRAHI
Greek-born tenor, Alberto Mizrahi, one of the world's leading interpreters of Jewish music, is Hazzan of the historic Anshe Emet Synagogue, Chicago. He has thrilled audiences worldwide in recitals, symphony concerts, and operatic performances. Affectionately dubbed the "Jewish Pavarotti," Mizrahi's repertoire, spanning nine languages, makes his performances unique in the field. He is featured in the PBS gala USA/Europe televised performance of CANTORS: a Faith in Song, from the Spanish Portuguese Synagogue, Amsterdam, as well as with the legendary jazz pianist, Dave Brubeck, and his quartet, in Gates of Justice, recorded for the Milken Archive.
Mizrahi recently performed KAVANAH: Tradition and Transformation, a seven city Modern Music tour throughout The Netherlands, built around him by the Korzo Theater, The Hague. He also sang concerts in; Geneva, Switzerland with the Gerard Edery Ensemble, Los Angeles with the Philharmonic (Disney Theater), Tarpon Springs Fine Arts Center, Miami’s Bet Shirah Congregation, Birmingham, Alabama (Temple Beth-El), Temple Israel, NYC with Theo Bikel, Highland Park, NJ, and Ahavath Achim, Atlanta. Highlights of some more recent performances include Encino, CA (Cantor Hershel Fox 25th at Valley Beth Shalom,) Omaha, NE (Beth El), Tel Aviv (with YUVAL), Krakow Jewish Festival, Hava Nashira Festival, and the North American Jewish Choral Festival.
Alberto’s extensive discography includes six CD’s for the Milken Archive on Naxos, and his latest recording projects include Anshe Emet Live, Bikel & Mizrahi: Our Song, and Alberto’s World. In October 2007 he will record Mizrahi in Concert with the Menuhin School Orchestra, in London and The Art of the Cantor (orchestra and location – TBA.)
An embarrassment of riches, Mizrahi’s concert highlights include: Neve Shalom Synagogue, Istanbul, Turkey, Krakow Jewish Culture Festival 2006, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, Berkeley JCC Jewish Music Festival, CANTORS WORLD "Koussevitzky Concert," Alice Tully Hall, NY; Spitalfields Festival in London; World Litvak Congress, Vilnius, Lithuania; 60th Anniversary of the Liquidation of the Lodz Ghetto, Lodz, Poland; with the Gerard Edery Ensemble and The Sons of Sepharad, throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe. Alberto has also sung with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Radio Television Orchestra of Spain, New York Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, N.D.R. Symphony, Hanover, Atlanta Symphony, Houston Symphony, Pacific Symphony, L. A. Jewish Symphony,Washington Choral Arts Society at the Kennedy Center, D.C, Lithuanian National Symphony and Sinfonia Warsawia. Hazzan Mizrahi is an officer of the Cantors Assembly, on the Board of the Zamir Choral Foundation and Advisory Board of Genesis at the Crossroads. He has performed for some of Genesis at the Crossroad’s programs since 2000. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Deborah.
HAJ YOUNESS
From the great halls of the Smithsonian, to the Royal Court of Indonesia, and the Cairo Opera House, Haj Youness, showcased through the strings of his oud, presents both sacred sensitivity and soul-stirring sounds. Born in Casablanca in 1949, Haj Youness is one the most accomplished oud virtuosos, renowned for delighting audiences worldwide. A disciple of the Turkish scholar, Jamil Bik Tambouri, Youness conducted research that singled him out for his unique instrumental interpretation, supplementing traditional oud music. In his capacity as Dean of the Casablanca Music Conservatory, Africa's largest conservatory, he shares his talent with young musicians numbering in excess of 5000 international students each year.
His exceptional talent won him the late King Hassan II’s attention and the Golden Luth (Oud) Award in 1983. He was designated with the high honor of Composer at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Both the United Nations and the International Royal Academy awarded Youness the 2000 International Peace Award for Culture. Most recently UNESCO honored him as well. In 2004, after a mesmerizing concert at the Smithsonian, the Peace Corps' Friends of Morocco and the Washington Club bestowed upon him the title of Moroccan Ambassador for the Arts to the United States of America.
He will collaborate with the others to present works highlighting the Moroccan, Arabic, Judaic and sub-Saharan roots of contemporary Moroccan music in addition to that which is centuries’ old from Andalucia (Southern Spain,) some of which were originally composed by him. Finally he will indulge us with pieces which explore the origins of Flamenco music and that which we commonly ascribe to South America which actually originated out of Andalucia.
HOWARD LEVY
Howard Levy is a musician without limits. His musical adventures include journeys into jazz, pop, rock, world music, Latin, classical, folk, blues, country, theater, and film. He has appeared on hundred of CD’s, won a Grammy (1997), won a Joseph Jefferson Award (1986) for Best Original Music for a Play, and has performed many times on American and European television and radio. Universally acknowledged as the world’s most advanced diatonic harmonica player, Howard developed a fully chromatic style on the standard 10 - hole diatonic harmonica, revolutionizing harmonica playing and taking the instrument into totally new territory. He is also an accomplished pianist and composer, and plays many other instruments as well, including flute, ocarina, mandolin, saxophone, and percussion.
Howard was a founding member of the Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. He toured and recorded two albums with Kenny Loggins, and formed Trio Globo with Eugene Friesen and Glen Velez. Howard has also performed and/or recorded with Dolly Parton, Styx, Bobby McFerrin, Paul Simon, John Prine, Paquito D’Rivera, Ken Nordine, and many others, as well as touring and recording extensively in Europe with artists such as Rabih Abou Khalil and Michael Riessler. Recent Highlights. In 2003, Howard released a jazz duo cd with Naumberg Award-winning pianist Anthony Molinaro, entitled The Molinaro/Levy Project “Live”. In 2002, he performed “On the Other Side...” (a triple concerto composed for him, a clarinetist and an accordianist) with The Bavarian State Radio Orchestra in Munich, Germany. In 2001, Howard was commissioned by The Illinois Philharmonic to compose a Harmonica Concerto, the first ever written for diatonic harmonica. Since the debut, he has performed it 9 times, with more performances scheduled. He has performed as a guest artist for Genesis at the Crossroads’ performances since 2000.
HORACIO “EL NEGRO” HERNANDEZ
Grammy-Award winner Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez is recognized as one of the most talented drummers in the world today. Born in Havana, Cuba into a very musical family, he began studying with Fausto Garcia Rivera and Enrique Pla, the infamous percussionist of Irakere, whose members also included renowned Arturo Sandoval and Paquito Rivera. While attending the National School of Arts in Havana, he began playing with Saxophonist Nicolas Reynoso as well as for the EGREM Studio and Proyecto, led by pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba. Whether playing with jazz legends McCoy Tyner or Michel Camilo, preeminent rock stars Carlos Santana or Steve Winwood, or as a member of renowned Latin ensembles like Tito Puente's Tropi-Jazz All Stars, El Negro has earned a strong reputation as one of the most prolific, powerful and versatile players on the current musical scene. Best known for his 1990 Grammy for Santana’s Supernatural, he has recorded over 60 CDs, collaborated with Michel Camilo on the Kip Hanrahan Deep Rumba Project and participated in The Back Room, a Cuban cultural project (1998-2005.)
KIU HAGHIGHI
Kiu Haghighi, known as a santour virtuoso in concert halls around the world, began his lifetime study of the santour at the age of ten. As a teenager he performed on the radio station of Mashad, Iran and the National Iranian Radio in Tehran, Iran. At nineteen he was invited to join the Iranian Ministry of Education and Art. There he performed as the featured soloist in the Academy Orchestra and performed regularly on National Iranian Television. Kiu was an instructor at the Ministry of Education and Art until 1965, when he left Iran for study in the United States. Kiu Haghighi's musical career in North America has included numerous performances throughout the world in colleges, universities and concert halls. He has remained faithful to a desire to share classical Iranian music with western audiences.
Kiu's work as both a performer and a composer on the santour combines and blends traditional Iranian forms with contemporary ones. A master of all the twelve melody types used as a basis for Iranian classical improvisation, Kiu has expanded the technical possibilities of the santour. His unusual speed in the movement of the leather-tipped mallets called mezrab is both well-known and extraordinary. Audience members have remarked at Haghighi's new approach to the tradition of the Persian santour. They are intrigued by the new musical features, including novel musical ornaments and parallel melodies with unique musical dissonances. Audiences always remember the energy and vigor of expression of Kiu Haghighi brings to his musical performances.
HUMAYUN KHAN
Originally from Afghanistan, Humayun’s family moved to Washington, DC, following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1980. Humayun grew up in a culturally-oriented family, an atmosphere rich with traditional music and literature. He began studying Indian classical music from Shuba Sankaran in 1990, and after receiving an Apprenticeship Grant from the DC Commission of the Arts and Humanities, extended his vocal music studies with her until 1992. He then traveled to Calcutta, India to began formal training in classical vocal music under Ustad Vilayat Khan, considered to be the most influential sitarist of his generation. Vilayat Khan is credited with the introduction of the gayaki (vocal) style into instrumental music, which brought to the sitar the subtleties and expressiveness of the classical vocal tradition. In 1995, Humayun began receiving additional guidance from the senior Pakistani artist, Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, developing his own versatile performance style, ranging from purely classical khayal renditions to a classically oriented presentation of the poetry of great Persian masters, Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi and Hafiz.
With his unique style and mastery of qawwali music, Humayn has graced the stages of the Asilah International Festival in Morocco, the Library of Congress in the Neptune Plaza Series and the Freer Gallery of Art at the Smithsonian Institute with PROBE as well as the Rumi Festival in Chapel Hill, NC, to mention a few. No stranger to the Kennedy Center, where he has performed numerous times, he is perhaps, most well reputed for his series of Concerts for Peace following the horrors of September 11th. He has provided instrumental accompaniment for live performances in Eastern Europe with both Ustad Vilayat Khan and Ustad Zakir Husain, and CD recordings by Mashkoor Ali Khan and Ustad Rashid Khan on the AIM Record label. He performed the instrumental music for the soundtrack of the Mira Nair feature film, Kama Sutra, and sang for the award-winning BBC radio feature, Monsoon, subsequently broadcast throughout the US in abridged form by NPR in 1999. He was proclaimed, Best Rsising Star of Afghan music by Taranasaz, the renowned singer-songwriter of Afghanistan.
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE LEROY
Jean-Christophe is an experienced and versatile percussionist/drummer who specializes in Cuban, West African, Brazilian and other afro-Caribbean styles of music. He also enjoys adapting these styles to compliment western musical settings as well as adapting the rhythms to the drumset. He has been a freelance performer and educator since 1992 and has worked in various parts of Canada, the U.S. and Ecuador. He has performed with artists having musical backgrounds including African, Cuban, jazz, funk, and show band. The venues include arts festivals, clubs, theatre productions and the recording studio. His extensive experience in music with dance includes performing, directing, and recording for several large productions. He has also provided live and recorded accompaniment for many African, Cuban, Modern, Tap, Jazz and funk dance classes. Firmly committed to arts-education, Jean has taught courses and given workshops at universities, public schools, music conservatories and music stores and teaches private and group lessons on a regular basis. He has studied-and continues to study- various styles of music from around the world with masters of their respective idioms, including Madou Kante, N’Goma N’Dao, Changuito, Anga Diaz, Bobby Sanabria, Clint Gillespie and Dr. Glenn Price. After years of dedication, Jean has enjoyed playing alongside some of his teachers such as Isreal “Toto” Beriel, Chuchito and Emilio Valdez, Ernie Adams, and others.
VICTOR MIRANDA
Cuban-born and raised, Victor Miranda completed studies in classical guitar and took his unbridled passion to professionally playing bass the world over. Victor has graced stages internationally on tour with the prestigious Orchestra Aragon as well as some of Cuba's top level musicians, including Orlando Maraca Valle, Giovanny Hidalgo and many others. In 2002 along with Maraca y Otra Vision, Victor’s album, Tremenda Rumba received a Grammy nomination. Since moving to the United States, Victor has toured extensively with guitar virtuoso Al Dimeola and recorded with both Dimeola on his latest CD, Consequence of Chaos, and other esteemed artists, Chick Corea, John Patitucci and Steve Gadd.
SHAHIN SHAHIDA
Born, in Tehran, Composer, Producer and Guitarist Shahin Shahida is one of the first published Iranian musicians to incorporate traditional Persian scales with Western rhythms and compositions. His early schooling at the Tehran International School introduced him to Western education, culture and music, providing a backdrop for his early musical interests. Self-taught on old blues, folk and R&B, he often collaborated with Persian musicians equally intrigued by his Western style of guitar playing as he was with their traditional Persian format. His move to the US unleashed his talent as a songwriter and galvanized his natural facility to create innovative ensembles, the most successful of which was his collaboration with Sepehr Haddad. After performing at the White House, they went on to record an entire body of compositions named One Thousand & One Nights. This collection of 11 songs attracted record company executives at Higher Octave Music, who signed the artists onto a five album contract. Released in the fall of 1994, this debut CD, produced by Grammy Nominee Producer William Aura (producer for Ottmar Leibert) made its way to #6 on the Billboard Charts. Since then, the duo has released five more CDs including Aria, e, East West Highway, Nostalgia, Pascha and World Café all at the top of the Billboard Charts.
Throughout his musical career, Shahin used his voice as a messenger for peace, collaboratively performing and recording with renowned musicians from all over the world, including one of the most prominent Iranian tar and oud players, Shahram Mir Jallali, Persian Santur Virtuoso, Ardavan Kamkar, (on Peter Gabriel’s Real World label,) Iranian composer and Santur player, Kazem Davoudian, Cameroonian singer, Armand Ntepe, and Afghani singer- songwriter, Humayun Khan. Shahin has appeared on NPR, CNN, ABC, and the BBC, always referring to his successful collaborations with other international artists as examples of efforts to enrich the human experience. The moto that graces his CD covers As in music, so in life, best describes Shahin’s personal approach to life. He serves as an Executive Board Member of Genesis at the Crossroads and has been a performing artist for GATC’s programs since 2000.
PAST GUEST ARTISTS:
MAESTRO HANY MEHANNA
One of the most notorious composers and performers of the Arab world, The Cairo Opera House recognized Mehana with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 16th Arab Music Festival just two weeks ago. His extensive artistic record includes numerous musical compositions not only for major singers in the Arab world, but also for 88 motion pictures and 34 television series. Mehana performs in our concert today out of a deep commitment to further Genesis at the Crossroads’ mission of educating the younger generation in all aspects of art, especially music. We are honored to have him perform one of his greatest and most well known works, Cherouk, (Sunrise.)
SAIDA CHARAF
Often referred to as the Sahraoui Diva (Saharan Diva,) Saida’s magnificent voice continues to brighten the African skies. She shined most notably in her past performance as lead vocalist for UNESCO’s Water for Life concert by Jean Michel Jarre, especially in the piece, Assahratou Lakoum. A native of Laayoune, she holds a degree in Arabic literature.
HAMID EL KASRI
Born in 1961, Hamid El Kasri began exploring the Gnaoua sufi music at seven years of age under the guidance of his Grandfather, a Sudanese slave who brought with him an uncommon mastery of this spiritual genre. With a powerful and lucid voice coupled with his astonishing artistic range, Kasri flawlessly marries the musical tones of the North with the religious sounds of the South. Kasri has become one of Morocco’s most outstanding Gnaoua vocalists, and as in centuries past, has trained his 13 year-old Daughter in this ancient musical tradition.
SAAD LAMJARRED
Gifted with an exceptional voice and musical depth, Saad finished second in the 2007 Arab Super Idol competition outranking thousands of other youth. Dubbed the Julio Iglesias of the Arab world for his signature style, tour-de-force performances, he graced the stage of the Super Idol competition’s grand finale and is now taking time off from recording his album to be with us in Casablanca.
COMPOSER FOR OUR OPENING PIECE: SAID EL AZIZI EL ALAOUI
Maitre El Alaoui, a native of Casablanca won the prestigious Premier Prix de Violon from the Casablanca Conservatory of Music, prior to assuming the Director of Casablanca’s Cultural Center of Sidi Belyout. He also served as Professor of Violin at the conservatory, and lead violinist for the Casablanca Symphony Orchestra as well as the Amana Orchestra. He toured extensively and headlined in major festivals in France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria, Peru and the United States, to name but a few. In 2002 he also wrote the score for one of Morocco’s classic movies, What a Wonderful Life. In the Spring of the same year, he was hired by Jean Michel Jarre, the legendary French musician and composer to compose the arrangements for his landmark Water for Life concert held in the Saharan desert to benefit UNESCO. The concert boasted a live audience of more than 30,000 with a worldwide broadcast to millions more. (Over 60 million albums were sold worldwide.)
MUSICAL DIRECTOR: HOWARD LEVY (Please see above)
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER & ENSEMBLE FOUNDER: WENDY STERNBERG, MD
The GATC Founder & Executive Director has not only been a frequent guest on WBEZ/NPR, but also has been featured on CBS News, ABC 7, the BBC, Al-Jazeera TV & Radio, 98.7 WFMT, and UN Radio. She and GATC have been the subject of numerous articles in Chicago Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, Time Out Chicago, The Reader, The Chicago Sun Times, The LA Times, The Washington Post, as well as the Associated Press and the US State Department’s articles the latter of which were distributed globally. She was recently asked to contribute a piece to the Newsweek-Washington Post joint online blog, On Faith, now posted.
Among her many accolades, she was named Finalist for the Fourth Annual Susan F. Berkowitz Award for Teaching Tolerance to Children and was featured in Today’s Chicago Woman Magazine as a “Woman to Watch.” She was also nominated for Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40 Award and featured in a cover story by Chicago Jewish News as one of the “10 Jewish Chicagoans of the Year.” She presented GATC to the 2007 National US Conference of Children’s Museums’ Diversity in Action Showcase, (Chicago,) to Consul Generals, Mayors, university deans & students, architects and the media (Casablanca, Morocco) and also to members of Congress, DC-based interest groups, and the media at the 2007 Alliance for Middle East Peace Conference on Capitol Hill. She is the recipient of the 2007 Publicity Club of Chicago’s Silver Trumpet Award in Issues Management. and the Wilmette Rotary Club 2008 Frankel Award for fostering cross-cultural understanding worldwide. Rotary International recently named her a Paul Harris Fellow. Sternberg was chosen as one of 22 people in the world to participate in the Rotary International Peace and Conflict Studies Fellowship Program at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, January through April 2009.
She retired from her 14-year career in private-practice Internal Medicine and left her Teaching Faculty position at Northwestern University Medical School at the close of 2008 to pursue further visionary growth and international development of Genesis at the Crossroads on a full-time basis.