THE CEDAR COMMISSIONS Night One: Aram Kavoossi, DJ Fawzi, Emily Boyajian

The Cedar Presents

The Cedar Commissions Night One ft. Aram Kavoossi, DJ Fawzi, and Emily Boyajian

Friday, February 17, 2023 / Doors: 6:30 PM CT / Show: 7:30 PM CT

All Ages

Seated

$15 General Admission, $25 Two-Show Pass

This is a seated show with general admission, first-come-first-served seating. The Cedar is happy to reserve seats for patrons who require special seating accommodations. To request seating or other access accommodations, please go to our .

General Admission tickets are available online.

Two-Show Pass admits you to both Friday, February 17th and Saturday, February 18th, 2023 Cedar Commissions concerts at The Cedar at a discount! You can find those, .

ABOUT THIS SHOW

The Cedar Cultural Center presents the twelfth annual Cedar Commissions, on February 17th and 18th, 2023, featuring new works by Aram Kavoossi, Cydi Yang, Emily Boyajian, Fawzi, Sophia Deutsch, and Theo Langason.

Each night, three lead artists will debut their brand new works on The Cedar stage: Friday, February 17th features Aram Kavoossi, Fawzi, and Emily Boyajian, and Saturday, February 18th features Theo Langason, Sophia Deutsch, and Cydi Yang.

The Cedar Commissions is a flagship program for local emerging artists made possible with a grant from the Jerome Foundation. Since the program began in 2011, the Commissions have showcased new work by over 60 Minnesotan emerging composers and musicians, including Dessa, Aby Wolf, Adam Levy, Maria Isa, Joe Horton, Joey Van Phillips, Gao Hong, Dameun Strange, Vie Boheme, and many more.

“It’s a true honor to continue supporting rising artists as they create new work and push themselves to explore new possibilities they haven’t before,” says Robert Lehmann, Community and Grant-Funded Programs Manager and program lead for The Cedar Commissions. “As a nonprofit music venue, one of The Cedar’s key commitments is support for emerging artists. Thanks to the Jerome Foundation, we’re able to amplify these six artist’s important voices and perspectives, and it’s an honor to support this group as they bring their visions to life. You may not know what to expect – but I’m confident you’ll find something to love about each of these incredible artists.”

The 2022-23 round of artists was selected by a diverse committee of Minnesota-based musicians, music industry professionals, and one Cedar staff. The 6 commissioned artists, each receive $5,000 plus $500 for performance costs to compose at least 30 minutes of new musical work to debut at The Cedar in February 2023. To date, the Commissions have supported the creation of new music by more than 60 local artists across genres. In the event that gathering restrictions are in place due to COVID-19 during the grant period, we will work with artists to make adaptations to the performance platform as needed.

Photo courtesy to Uche Iroegbu

ARAM KAVOOSSI | "OIL AND DUST"

Despite its ubiquity and domination in the American way of life, oil in its material form goes largely unrendered in public consciousness. If we cannot see petrol as it is contained to our tanks and pipelines, “Oil & Dust” will soundtrack the petropolitical spell to which we are bound: a death knell for a viral planetary resource curse. Aram Kavoossi’s artist name is biaban.

Photo courtesy to Uche Iroegbu

DJ FAWZI | "CARUURTEENA"

In "Caruurteena" (Somali for "our children"), DJ Fawzi aims to foster connection within the Somali community among kids, parents, and elders in the face of the wider growing fentanyl crisis and the distance that drug abuse often creates. Mixing in poetry, rapping, dancing, and positivity, she is intent on bringing community members together in the creation of this work, inviting youth, community leaders, and other artists into the process in order to foster empathy and support for youth who are struggling.

Photo courtesy to Uche Iroegbu

EMILY BOYAJIAN | "TRANSITION"

"Transition" is a song cycle written by Emily Boyajian, a pianist, composer, and transgender woman living in the Twin Cities. Drawing on texts by the composer and other transgender community members, "Transition" explores the complexities of navigating transition and change, particularly gender transition and finding one's true self in a gendered world. The songs focus on topics such as the mixture of excitement and nervousness from starting a gender transition, dealing with “impostor” syndrome, facing discrimination, building self-confidence, and finding strength in community. Overall, "Transition" portrays trans people as neither monsters nor heroes, but simply people trying to find their personal path to a happy, fulfilling life. This performance features transgender singers, as well as several instrumentalists who are transgender and/or queer.

The Cedar Commissions is made possible in part by a grant from the Jerome Foundation.

Host or Publisher The Cedar Cultural Center