Kareem Roustom’s Dabke for string orchestra will receive three performances this month, including the Chicago premiere.
Dabke is the string orchestra setting of the third movement of composer Kareem Roustom’s A Voice Exclaiming, originally scored for triple string quartet in a 2013 commission for the Kronos Quartet and Community MusicWorks players. Dabke is an Arab communal folkloric line dance typically performed at joyous occasions. Highly rhythmic and coloristic, the movement is based on a six beat dabke rhythm called “sudaasi.” Also transcribed by the composer for wind ensemble, the score is dedicated to the memory of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish.
November 5, 2017 : The Rowan University String Ensemble (New Jersey) directed by Timothy Schwartz will present a concert titled “Remembering the Past – Anticipating the Future.” This concert features music inspired by Social Justice: Dabke by Kareem Roustom as well as music by Arturo Rodriguez and Jessie Montgomery. The String Ensemble will also perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s powerful Chamber Symphony, Op. 110a (from String Quartet No. 8), which was written in 1960 and dedicated to “the victims of fascism and the war.” Details here.
November 8: Pianist Tanya Bannister gave the New York premiere of Aleppo Songs at the Roadmaps Festival.The festival is an annual event bringing people together to examine a current crisis through art. According to the festival, its goal is to “premiere new works that stir collective consciousness and inspire meaningful action.”
November 5 & 19, 2017: The Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra gives the Chicago premiere of Dabke for string orchestra on a program with works by Joan Tower, Dimitri Shostakovich, Lili Boulanger, and Benjamin Britten. Details of each concert are available below.
November 15: Pianist Elisaveta Blumina performed “Oh people, leave me to my sorrows,” at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.
November 16: The LUCA School of Arts Symfonieorkest in Leuven gave the Belgian premier of Ramal under maestro Ivan Meylemans. The program featured music by Arthur Meulemans, Thomas Adès, Frans Schreker, and Paul Hindemith.
In Tune blog 