Photo credit: Shervin Lainez

The Knights at Fishers Island with special guest Kinan Azmeh

The Knights return to Fishers Island with a program featuring Kinan Azmeh, the Syrian-born clarinetist and composer. Described as the "intensely soulful virtuoso" by the NY Times, Azmeh's music lives at the intersection of jazz, contemporary classical, and Middle Eastern-infected rhythms and modes. Musicians from The Knights will be performing Azmeh's Concertino Grosso, which derives inspiration from the Baroque Concerto Grosso form, for violin, clarinet, guitar, percussion and strings, alongside his hit tune Wedding. The group will also perform Azmeh's Dear Ocean, a work written for himself and The Knights harp / bass dynamic duo of Megan and Shawn Conley. Dear Ocean was commissioned by Ocean Music Action, an organization founded by Megan Conley, which draws attention to issues of ocean sustainability through music and art. The musicians will also be workshopping and sharing an insider's view into Undone Landscape, a new piece of electro-acoustic music by guitarist/composer Kyle Sanna. Anchoring the program in the classical tradition will be Saint-Saens' poetic Fantasie for violin and harp. 

Program:

Kinan Azmeh Dear Ocean for clarinet, harp, and bass

Kinan Azmeh Concertino Grosso

Kyle Sanna Undone Landscape

Kinan Azmeh Suite for Improviser and Orchestra, “Wedding”

Camille Saint-Saens Fantasie for violin and harp