THE LIAN ENSEMBLE

 

PHOTO GALLERY

 

 

 

"The Lian Ensemble's concert was an exhilarating highlight of the triannual World Festival of Sacred Music"

Laurel Fishman, GRAMMY.com

"combining intricate musical structure with an evocative blend of traditional and original compositions"

Laurel Fishman, GRAMMY.com

"Painstakingly structured compositions with pounding rhythms"

Los Angeles Times

"The Lian Ensemble features the best Iranian musicians in the West"
GAVRIEL FISKE, The Jerusalem Post


"The Lian Ensemble is absolutely soulful"
Jim Brenholts, author of "Tracks Across the Universe"


"The Lian Ensemble... World Class Persian Musicians"
New sound  Music


"Gifted World Music Group"
Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times


"BEST WORLD MUSIC/ RECOMBINANT ARTIST"
LAWMA 2004 & 2005, By John Payne
LA WEEKLY

Based in Los Angeles, The Lian Ensemble is a group of virtuoso performers and composers. Their powerful compositions fuse the Mystical Persian musical heritage with the contemporary sensibilities of Contemporary Jazz. Combining a unique musical vision with dauntless dedication to experimentation, they create a synthesis of mystical world music composed of traditional and folk melodies and instruments. Their "Brilliance " has been praised by John Schneider of KPFK radio. The Lian is comprised of world-renowned musicians whose diverse and uniquely versatile musical styles lend to this rare blend of Mystical world music. Lian's music flows effortlessly between a diverse range of styles and traditions, while fearlessly forging a path and sound that is all their own. Los Angeles Times writes, "The Lian Ensemble's music-original compositions written and improvised in class on its own terms". After much collaboration, the musicians have acquired the requisite knowledge of Persian music, and each adds their own distinctive rhythmic sounds to compositions, creating an exciting mix of melodies that go beyond the stylistic boundaries. In performance, Lian's ever evolving repertoire of creative original music is expanded, rearranged, and examined with exploratory eyes at each and every concert. Los Angeles Times (Don Heckman) writes," Lian ensemble is a gifted group with completive compositions and virtuosic performances".

In the past few years Lian Ensemble has performed extensively at various cultural events including:

 

• The Bellevue College (Seattle)
• The Wilshire Ebell Theatre (Los Angeles)
• The Skirball Cultural Center (Los Angeles)
• The Pacific Cultural Center (Santa Cruz)
• The U.C.I. (Irvine)
• The U.C.L.A. Music festival (Los Angeles)
• The University of Texas (Houston)
• The Long Beach Symphony Performing Arts Center (Long Beach)
• The Performing Art Center of P.C.C (Portland)
• The CalArts Creative Music Festival (Valencia)
• The Hilltop Cultural Celebration at Georgia World Congress Center (Atlanta)
• Royce Hall (UCLA)
• Musical Explorations Series Axis of Love Festival
• REDCAT Theater (In Walt Disney Concert Hall)
• St. Louis History Museum
• World Festival of Sacred Music (Los Angeles)
• John Anson Ford Theatres (Los Angeles)
• 43rd Annual Los Angeles County Holiday Celebration Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
• Lian Ensemble live on KCET
• Al Urmawi center for Mashreq Music (Alexandria, Egypt)
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art
• The Jerusalem Festival - Songs of Freedom (Jerusalem)
• Oud Festival (Jerusalem)
• Stanford University (Rumi's 800th Birthday Celebration)
• Sounds of L.A., at the Getty Center
• Northwestern University (Chicago)
• À l'auditorium de la Grande BibliothËque (Montreal)
• Harbourfront center (Toronto)
• USC Bovard Auditorium (Los Angeles)
• California State University, Fullerton (Los Angelea)
• Lian Ensemble, Michael Hackett and Henry Goodman, Getty Villa, (Malibu)
• Lian Ensemble and Robert Bly, Dominican University, (San Rafael)