Contact:
Barbara McKenna (831) 459-2495; [email protected]
Martin Wolleson (831) 459-3861; [email protected]
Concert planned to celebrate appointment of Ali Akbar Khan to UCSC
India's "National Living Treasure," Ali Akbar Khan, will perform a special concert at the University of California, Santa Cruz on Friday, October 15, 1999. The concert celebrates Khan's new appointment to UCSC as Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Music. The show begins at 8 p.m. in the Music Center Recital Hall and is presented by Arts & Lectures.
Ustad (master) Ali Akbar Khan is regarded as one of the most accomplished interpreters of Indian classical music alive today. He is admired by both Eastern and Western audiences for his brilliant compositions and his mastery of the beautiful and complex 25-string sarode. One of the principle solo voices in the basic Indian classical music ensemble, the sarode provides the player with flexibility to produce arching, almost vocalized melody lines. The master will be accompanied for this concert by Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri on the tabla and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan's son, Alam, on the sarode.
Born in 1922 in East Bengal (Bangladesh), Ustad Ali Akbar Khan began his education in music at the age of three, studying vocal music and sarode from his famous father, Acharya Allauddin Khan. Over the decades he has performed for more than 8 million people, recorded more than 95 albums and received accolades across the globe. Some of his most recent honors include a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and five Grammy Award nominations.
"We feel very privileged to have the opportunity of collaborating with such an extraordinary artist," said Edward Houghton, dean of the Arts Division at UCSC. "Khansahib is not only an outstanding musician and dedicated teacher but also the heir and principal exemplar of a long and distinguished musical tradition. He will be a remarkable resource for our students and for our expanding programs in the arts and cultures of India."
"This is a very unique collaboration between the university and my college," Khan said. "I'm very happy we will be working together. In my family, the knowledge and tradition of this music is very important and I want to be able to pass that on to future generations. My family learned this music originally in the 16th century at the time of Emperor Akbar. This is a wonderful thing that's going to happen with the university--this connection is an important way of keeping this music alive."
Through the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael and a branch in Switzerland, Khan has overseen the instruction of more than 15,000 students since 1967. Khan learned to value the teaching of music from his father, Acharya Allauddin Khan, one of India's greatest musicians and teachers.
"My father taught me from the beginning, how to learn, how to teach, and how to compose. I started learning with my father when I was only three and he continued to study with him and practice every day for 18 hours a day for more than 20 years, up until he was 100 years old. From him I learned the importance of teaching others."
Tickets: Tickets for Ali Akbar Khan are $30 Adult, $25 Student and Senior with ID, $10 UCSC Student with ID (Reserved Seating). Tickets and season brochures are available through the UCSC Ticket Office by calling 831.459.2159 (v/tdd). For complete information, browse the web at: events.ucsc.edu/artslecs.
Ali Akbar Khan is presented in partnership with the UCSC Music Department.
To download an electronic image of Khan, go to: www.ucsc.edu/news_events/download/
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