MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA'S DAY OF MUSIC at Orchestra Hall

Minnesota Orchestra and The Cedar present

MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA'S DAY OF MUSIC (at Orchestra Hall)

Saturday, July 27, 2024

11:00 AM

All Ages

Indoor, Mixed Seated and Standing

Free

To learn about Minnesota Orchestra’s accessibility offerings, please visit their accessibility page here.

The Cedar is pleased to partner again with MN Orchestra to program the indoor Target Atrium stage as part of their annual Day of Music, a free, family-friendly event featuring over 12 hours of musical performances.
The Day of Music returns inside Orchestra Hall on Saturday, July 27! Join us for a music marathon across three stages and spanning many genres – catch artists like FPA, Aida Shahghasemi and Nima Hafezieh, Corda (with Pavel Jany, Jacqueline Ultan, and John Croarkin), WANAKV, Yalla Drum! Ensemble, Carnage the Executioner, Havana String Quartet, the Minnesota Orchestra, and more as we celebrate summer, music, and our community with this free indoor event.
Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra will offer three separate performances over the course of the day. At 1 p.m., the full Orchestra will present a one-hour Relaxed Family Concert which will be geared towards audiences of all ages, including individuals with autism or sensory
sensitivities; repertoire will include selections from Anna Clyne, Igor Stravinsky and Jessie
Montgomery, among others. The ensemble will perform an evening concert at 8 p.m. with
similar selections, and additional works by Sergei Prokofiev and Jean Sibelius. These concerts
will be led by compelling early-career conductor Stephanie Childress.
Minnesota Orchestra invited The Cedar back again to program their Target Atrium stage! Performances will start at 11:00 am with the Arabic percussion of Yalla Drum! Ensemble, followed by the sounds of Cameroonian blues and rock guitarist and vocalist WANAKV; Czech guitar player Pavel Jany will collaborate with Jacqueline Ultan and John Croarkin as CORDA, performing music mixing Romani music, jazz, and Brazilian influences; Iranian vocalist Aida Shahghasemi will perform with fellow Iranian pianist, Nima Hafezieh; and FPA will close out The Cedar's programming sharing her guitar-driven, indie-electronic music.

Food vendors, food trucks, and local craft merchants make this 13-hour festival a perfect way to spend a summer Saturday.
See Full Event Info

11:00am-11:45am: YallaDrum! Ensemble
2:00-2:45pm: WANAKV (Trio)
3:30-4:15pm: CORDA Trio (Pavel Jany + Jacqueline Ultan + guest)
5:00-5:45pm: Aida Shahghasemi + Nima Hafezieh

FPA, also known as Frances Priya, is a multidisciplinary artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She creates genre-bending, guitar-driven music pulling on influences frombedroom RnB,ambient music, and electronica. In 2021, she released Princess Wiko, on the 37d30d record label.

To learn more about FPA:

• Visit her Instagram page here

Aida Shahghasemi is a Minneapolis-based musician with roots in Iran. She studied Psychology and Anthropology at University of Minnesota with a focus on the cultural aspects of Persian Classical Music and the restrictions imposed on the voices of Iranian female vocalists. She received her Masters degree from New York University in Arts Politics where she also served as an adjunct instructor teaching a course she developed on arts activism in Iran. She has worked with a number of different Art and Social Advocacy groups in New York and Minnesota as a musician, graphic designer, and developer and has served as an Assistant Program Coordinator at Hamline University’s Making Waves Social Justice Theatre Troupe. She has been a touring member of Iron and Wine and Marketa Irglova’s band while also being a recording artist on two of Glen Hansard’s albums. Her three albums are “Wind Between the Horse’s Ears,” released in 2015, “Cypress of Abarkooh,” released in 2019 and “Chashmandaaze Rooydaad,” released in August of 2022. She is a McKnight Music Fellow and serves as an adjunct faculty in the MFA program at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Aida is a mental health therapist at Hiraeth Psychotherapy and works primarily with adults and couples dealing with trauma.

Nima Hafezieh, also hailing from Iran, is an accomplished pianist, composer, and improviser creating true surreal impressionist works.

To learn more about Aida Shahghasemi:

• Visit her website here

Duo CORDA is a new project on the Twin Cities' music scene. Cellist Jacqueline Ultan and guitarist Pavel Jany blend together elements of jazz, classical music and a variety of international music styles. Their repertoire includes some original material combined with works from Astor Piazzolla and Joaquín Rodrigo to Django Reinhardt and Jaco Pastorius.

Jacqueline Ultan is a singularly creative cellist and composer. Also a dedicated teacher, Ultan is on the faculty of MacPhail’s Center for Music and holds a Master's Degree in Performance from Yale University. In demand locally and nationally, Ultan has recorded and collaborated extensively with many theater, pop, jazz, rock and new music artists.
Pavel Jany is a contemporary jazz guitarist whose long musical journey encompasses many various styles. Pavel Jany has founded several international jazz projects on the Twin Cities' music scene, including Brazilian jazz ensemble "Ticket To Brasil", acoustic jazz trio "Talking Strings", and jazz fusion group "Global Jazz Collegium".

To learn more about Corda:

WANAKV comes from a tribal community in the grass fields of West Africa called KOM Kingdom - a mostly rural community of hamlets, where the sound track of life is nature and indigenous music.
WANAKV plays guitar, sings and writes original tunes inspired by ethnic songs of the world.
WANAKV approaches music with reverence and appreciates the ability to be able to channel a sweet sound within a space and time.
Music is medicine. Don’t Stop the muziki!

To learn about WANAKV:

• Visit his Facebook page here

New Arab American Theater Works program Yalla Drum! teaches local community to play traditional Arabic percussion instruments in an ensemble environment, and provides an opportunity for the larger Twin Cities to interact with our rich traditions. These percussion instruments have existed for many centuries in South West Asia and North Africa, played by Muslims, Christians, Copts, Druze, Jews, and Turks.
Yalla Drum! ensemble will grow by continuous training, and also by adding more drummers to the group as we expand. We strive to pass our rich traditions onto future generations, offering them the opportunity to experience the music in and from our communities. We believe that creating spaces to share our multiple traditions strengthens solidarity with each other.

To learn more about Yalla Drum!

• Visit their website here

Host or Publisher The Cedar Cultural Center