Piano Trios by Iranian Bahá’í composers at the Association of the Friends of Persian Culture conference!

Crossing Borders Music will perform two short pieces for piano, violin, and cello at the 27th Annual Conference of the Association of the Friends of Persian Culture! The pieces are the First Movement (“Dashti”) of Nikan Milani’s Piano Trio, and “Persian Dreams” by Safa Shahidi.
Nikan Milani’s piano trio tells through music the powerful, resilient story of the BIHE – Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education. The BIHE was created because Bahá’ís in Iran are not allowed to enroll in higher education programs. By teaching at the BIHE, Nikan and his fellow teachers therefore became subject to raids, imprisonment, and disappearance by the Iranian authorities.
Safa Shahidi’s energetic and uplifting “Persian Dreams” blends Western instrumentation with Persian modes and melodies.
The works will be performed by Marianne Parker, piano; Maya Shiraishi, violin; and Tom Clowes, cello.
This performance is open to attendees of the August 31-Sept 3 Conference of the Association of the Friends of Persian Culture. For registration information, visit: https://www.fopca.com/en/events/conference.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.