BRAVO! Professional Performing Arts Series Welcomes Kanun Artist Firas Zreik to Campus for Final Fall Performance
BYU BRAVO! Professional Performing Arts Series closes out its Fall 2024 programming with a unique artist known for his talents on the kanun. Curious about the kanun? It is a trapezoidal plucked zither central to Middle Eastern and North African music traditions. Firas Zreik's work has transformed global perceptions of the instrument while also preserving its identity as a vital part of the Maqam tradition and stretching its potential as a cultural chameleon.
“Firas Zreik’s music is impossible to categorize in the best possible way,” said BRAVO! Series producer and presenter Lyndsay Keith. “It’s an incredible, virtuosic fusion of musical styles — including scales, vocabulary, structure and tonal systems — based in Arabic Maqam but drawn from around the world.”
A Palestine-born New Yorker, Zreik has performed and recorded across the globe, in a variety of settings ranging from festivals and museums to some of the most well-known theaters in the world. He received a Bachelor of Arts in music from Berklee College of Music. He has recorded and released three albums and a solo EP. Since 2013, he has become a sought-after collaborator, artist and educator.
Keith said, “To hear microtonal Maqam mixed with modal, improvisatory jazz, for example, is one of the most fascinating things I’ve ever experienced.”
Experience the one-of-a-kind sounds of the kanun and have your view of world music expanded on Nov. 15 in the BYU Music Building Recital Hall.
Performance Details:
Date & Time: Nov. 15 | 7:30 p.m.
Location: Music Building Recital Hall
Price: Starting at $15
Tickets: Available at BYU OnStage