EL MAHBOOB

Category: Curation

  • blood of infinity – World Premieres at New Encounters

    “Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.” — Assata Shakur, 1987, 139. While sketching ideas for what would be my only composition of 2025, Shakur passed away in Havana. Her words became instruction, a history to reflect upon while seeking an intention. On January 31, 2026, David Schotzko of the Array Ensemble will give the premiere of blood of infinity, a mallet percussion solo in memoriam to this iconic freedom fighter, who died in exile without justice. This concert, New Encounters III, will be the final program I’ve created for my composer-curator residency with Array.

    The concert will include the world premiere of Palestinian Canadian composer, pianist, visual artist John Kameel Farah‘s By the Side of the Road, a special Arraymusic commission and performance collaboration. It will also mark the first concert to feature incoming co-composers in residence Bekah Simms and Monica Pearce, programming their exploratory works alongside Louisiana native Courtney Bryan‘s powerful Elegy, a response to Abel Meeropol’s composition “Strange Fruit.” Tickets for in-person or livestream are available here.

    Black Lives Matter. End Empire. Free Congo. Free Palestine. Free Sudan.

  • Arraymusic New Encounters II

    On Saturday, February 15, 2025, Arraymusic presents the second in a concert series I’ve titled New Encounters. In-person and livestream tickets available here. I curated this program, and it’s wonderful to assist in bringing these composers to a new audience.

    Curator’s Note: The idea of the New Encounters concert, in contrast to its older cousin Four New Works, is that the pieces on the program are previously unheard by Arraymusic audiences if not all world premieres. This year, we’re fortunate that all four works will indeed be premieres, two of them arrangements by Pouya Hamidi and Morgan-Paige Melbourne of their existing music, and two freshly minted compositions by Maria-Eduarda Mendes Martins and Eldritch Priest. These creators are from very different sound worlds, and I’m excited for those to align in one evening with the Array Ensemble.

  • Perhaps Bells: New Piano Music by Bruce A. Russell

    Perhaps Bells: New Piano Music by Bruce A. Russell

    On November 16th, 2024, my second portrait concert “Perhaps Bells” will take place at Arraymusic, with much anticipated performances by the adventurous and multi-talented junctQín keyboard collective. This is a special program I’ve been hoping to hear since the start of my Array residency. It’s all piano solos and duos, all world premieres of work composed in the 90s and 00s when there were few audiences or concerts if any, and includes a new arrangement of Madra (originally for variable instrumentation). These pieces relate directly to my recent ones written for Array and other ensembles. They were created under the influence of American and Canadian minimalists, popular music in general, and a more expansive list that includes Wally Badarou, Harold Budd, John Cage, Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, Henryk Górecki, Kraftwerk, Arvo Pärt, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Erik Satie, Ann Southam, Linda Catlin Smith, and James Tenney.

    On the same weekend, Freesound will present their season opening program in the Array Space (“Music for Piano Quartet II,” November 15th and 17th), making for an exciting mini-fest of contemporary concert music.

    Stay tuned for another piano announcement (November is my piano month) and more.