Sahba Aminikia to Present New Work at 836M

A page from The Concourse of the Birds, painted by Habiballah of Sava (from the Web page for the event being discussed, provided by courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York)

Readers may recall that, this past March, the 836M Gallery hosted a celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, which included a performance at the piano by the gallery’s composer-in-residence Sahba Aminikia. At the conclusion of this month, the gallery will host a performance of his latest project, The Language of the Birds. This will be based on the poem by the twelfth-century mystic Attar of Nishapur, which had previously been staged by Peter Brook and Jean-Claude Carrière under the title La Conférence des oiseaux (the conference of the birds). (The script was published in 1979.)

In preparing this performance, Aminikia collaborated with the Living Earth Show duo of guitarist Travis Andrews and percussionist Andy Meyerson, both of whom had been “fellow students” during his studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The resulting score will also be performed by the ensembles of the San Francisco Girls Chorus and singer Marjan Vahdat, who had performed with Aminikia in the concert he had prepared for the Persian New Year this past March. Other contributors to the current project are media artist John Sanborn and multidisciplinary artist, musician, composer, director, and educator David Coulter. Translator Zara Houshmand contributed to preparing the text.

The Language of the Birds will mark the conclusion of Aminikia’s residency. It will be given two performances at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 31, and Saturday, June 1. The 836M Gallery is located in North Beach at 836 Montgomery Street, between Jackson Street and Pacific Avenue. The event is free, but an RSVP is necessary. That may be arranged through a hyperlink on the 836M Web site; but, as of this writing, that hyperlink has not yet been created. As a result, readers will have to make their reservations close to the end of the month, presumably through the Coming Performances Web page.