May 12: Sitar player to give free concert
“This should be of great interest to guitarists, percussionists, students … and any students who are engaged in music,” says Dr. George T. Riordan, director of the McLean School of Music. “This is a rare opportunity for our students to hear a fine musician on these instruments.”
Khan, who is a descendant of one of the most respected and renowned families of musicians of India, is one of the rare talents to have attained simultaneous excellence in performing on three different instruments — sitar, surbahar and tabla. Thus, Khan’s multidimensional musical repertoire distinguishes him in his illustrious ancestry, says Riordan, who adds that Khan represents the eighth generation in a family whose lineage can be traced back more than 400 years to the golden age of the arts under the reign of the great Moghal Emperor Akbar of 16th century India.
A prolific recording artist with 16-plus recordings to his credit, Kahn debuted at the Kingslynn festival in England at age 11. He has subsequently performed live worldwide for the last two decades at prestigious venues such as the Acropolis, Athens; Royal Albert Hall, London; The Great Hall of the Kremlin, Moscow; Lincoln Center, New York; Suntory Hall, Tokyo; and the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.
In addition to performing on numerous television programs and festivals and concerts, Khan also has led lecture-demonstrations and conducted workshops at college campuses throughout the country, including Harvard University, UCLA, Haverford College, Bryn Mawr College, University of Vermont, University of New Hampshire and Columbia University, as well as for SPICMACAY organizations in India and the U.S..
At the invitation of the University of Pennsylvania, he taught at their Department of South Asian Regional Studies for three years. Khan also was an artist-in-residence at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., for two years.
The March 12 concert is free and open to the public.