Berklee Middle Eastern Festival: Celebrating 15 Years
Image courtesy of the artist
The Berklee Middle Eastern Festival is a celebrated annual event that brings together artists from the Middle East, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean with students from all over the world to learn and experience the musical traditions of those regions.
The show features a collective of students, ensembles, performers from the Berklee and regional communities, visiting artists, dancers, and visual artists and focuses on a different region, theme, and tradition every year, aspiring to foster cultural exchange and understanding. Founded and directed by Christiane Karam, professor in the voice department, past festivals have focused on classical Arabic, Turkish, Mediterranean, Armenian, Persian, Balkan, and Flamenco traditions and have included artists such as Pepe de Lucía, Javier Limón, Bassam Saba, Simon Shaheen, Binka Dobreva, Hüsnü Senlendiriçi, and Tigran Hamasyan.
In this edition, the festival will celebrate fifteen years of music and intercultural exchange. It will feature visiting artists from the early years such as the New Year Gypsy All Stars, as well as Karam’s quartet, featuring heavyweights Keita Ogawa, Peter Slavov, Giorgi Mikadze, and other special guests. The concert will also showcase acclaimed Berklee ensembles such as the Middle Eastern Fusion Ensemble and the Berklee World Strings, directed by award-winning cellist and composer Eugene Friesen. And last but not least, the Pletenitsa Balkan Choir will present the release of their debut album, Dreams, in collaboration with Casalimón and the Berklee Mediterranean Institute.