Tigran Hamasyan
CAP UCLA | 5 p.m., Royce Hall
“With startling combinations of jazz, minimalist, electronic, folk and songwriterly elements…Hamasyan travels musical expanses marked with heavy grooves, ethereal voices, pristine piano playing and ancient melodies. You’ll hear nothing else like this.” —NPR Music
Pianist and composer Tigran Hamasyan, who fuses potent jazz improvisation with the rich folkloric music of his native Armenia, is considered to be one of the most remarkable and distinctive jazz-meets-rock pianists of his generation. Hamasyan won the Montreux Jazz Festival’s piano competition in 2003, when he was just 14 years old. He released his debut album, World Passion, in 2005, and the following year he won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition.
In addition to awards and critical praise, Hamasyan has built a dedicated international following, as well as praise from such artists as Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and Brad Mehldau. His most recent album, For Gyumri, is dedicated to his hometown of Gyumri in Armenia. Hamasyan says the songs on For Gyumri are “musical observations about the world we live in now and the weight of history we carry with us.” All About Jazz describes For Gyumri as “a loving tribute to his home city. While it’s not a jazz album in any strict sense, there is a freedom and openness to the music. It doesn’t always reach for epic dimensions; and it is fine because of that. It is still a deeply absorbing and beautifully-recorded album... The muse knows no borders or limits for this gifted pianist.”
This event is presented by the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA.
Event Date: Sunday, Oct. 14, 5 p.m.
Venue: Royce Hall
Price: $26 - $56*
*UCLA Students: $15, UCLA Faculty & Staff $25
*10% of ticket sales from this performance will be donated to the Children of Armenia Fund.
Royce Hall is located in North Campus off of Sunset Boulevard.
Parking is available in lots 2 & 4.
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