A FAR CRY
Called a “world-wide phenomenon” by Boston’s WBUR, A Far Cry is a democracy in which decisions are made collectively and leadership rotates among the players (“Criers”). The group has risen to the top of Billboard’s Traditional Classical Chart, been named Boston’s best classical ensemble by The Improper Bostonian and celebrated two Grammy nominations for its Visions and Variations.
A Far Cry has collaborated with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Simone Dinnerstein, Awadagin Pratt, Roomful of Teeth and the Silk Road Ensemble among others. Tour highlights include two new commissioning projects: Philip Glass’s third piano concerto with soloist Simone Dinnerstein, and The Blue Hour, “a gorgeous and remarkably unified work” (Washington Post) written by a collaborative of five leading female composers – Rachel Grimes, Angélica Negrón, Shara Nova, Caroline Shaw and Sarah Kirkland Snider. The Blue Hour was released in 2022 in partnership with New Amsterdam and Nonesuch Records and was named a Top 10 Album of 2022 by NPR.
A Far Cry’s Crier Records launched auspiciously in 2014 with the Grammy-nominated album Dreams and Prayers. The label’s second release, Law of Mosaics, was included on many 2014 Top 10 lists, notably from The New Yorker’s Alex Ross and WQXR’s Q2 Music, which named A Far Cry as one of the “Imagination-Grabbing, Trailblazing Artists of 2014.” In 2018, Crier Records released A Far Cry’s Visions and Variations, featuring variations by Britten and Prokofiev, and Ethan Wood’s re-imagining of Mozart’s “Ah vous-dirai-je Maman.” The album received two Grammy nominations, including one for Best Chamber Music Performance.
The 18 Criers are proud to call Boston home, and recently celebrated the conclusion of a 10-year residency at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Collaborating with local students through educational partnerships with the New England Conservatory, Longy School of Music, and Project STEP, A Far Cry aims to pass on the spirit of collaboratively-empowered music to the next generation.
“This conductor-free ensemble has earned and sustained a reputation for top-drawer playing, engrossing programming, and outstanding guest artists”
– Boston Musical Intelligencer
“joyfully musician-led”
–The Boston Globe
KINAN AZMEH, clarinet
Hailed by critics and audiences alike for his “brilliant liquidity and meltingly beautiful tone” (The Times), clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh has gained international recognition for his distinctive voice across diverse musical genres.
Originally from Damascus, Syria, Kinan Azmeh brings his music to all corners of the world as a soloist, composer and improviser. Notable appearances include Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Mozarteum, and in his native Syria at the opening concert of the Damascus Opera House. He has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, London Philharmonic and Toronto Symphony, and has shared the stage with such luminaries as Yo-Yo Ma, Daniel Barenboim, Marcel Khalife, John McLaughlin and others.
Kinan’s compositions include several works for solo, chamber and orchestral music, as well as music for film, live illustration and electronics. Recent works were commissioned by The New York Philharmonic, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, among others, and concertos have been dedicated to him by several composers, including Kareem Roustom, Dia Succari and Dinuk Wijeratne. In addition to his own Arab-Jazz Quartet CityBand and his Hewar trio, he has also been playing with the Silkroad Ensemble since 2012, whose 2017 Grammy Award-winning album “Sing Me Home” features Kinan as clarinetist and composer. His first opera “Songs for Days to Come” (sung in Arabic) was recently premiered in Osnabruck, Germany (2022) to great acclaim. He is a winner of an Opus Klassik award and was recently appointed to the National Council for the Arts.
Azmeh is a graduate of The Juilliard School as a student of Charles Neidich, as well as the Damascus High institute of Music and Damascus University’s School of Electrical Engineering. Additionally, he earned his doctorate degree in music from the City University of New York.
“Intensely soulful… Virtuoso”
– The New York Times
“[Azmeh’s] rhapsodic clarinet [is] able to seduce with a rare intimacy and explode in ecstasy.”
-Los Angeles Times
“Spellbinding!”
– The New Yorker
DINUK WIJERATNE, piano
Sri Lankan-born Canadian Dinuk Wijeratne is a JUNO and multi-award-winning composer, conductor, and pianist who has been described by the New York Times as “exuberantly creative” and by the Toronto Star as “an artist who reflects a positive vision of our cultural future.” His boundary-crossing work sees him equally at home in collaborations with symphony orchestras and string quartets, tabla players and DJs, and takes him to international venues as poles apart as the Berlin Philharmonie and the North Sea Jazz Festival.
Dinuk was featured as a main character in ‘What would Beethoven do?’ – the 2016 documentary about innovation in classical music featuring Eric Whitacre, Bobby McFerrin and Ben Zander. Forthcoming projects include new works for Grammy-winning baritone Elliot Madore (featuring Dinuk as pianist) and Grammy-nominated mandolinist Avi Avital, the test piece for the Banff International String Quartet Competition 2022.
Dinuk made his Carnegie Hall debut while still a student in 2004 as a composer, conductor, and pianist performing with Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. A second Carnegie appearance followed in 2009, alongside tabla legend Zakir Hussain. Dinuk grew up in Dubai before taking up composition studies at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM). In 2001, he was invited by Oscar-winning composer John Corigliano to join his studio at The Juilliard School. Conducting studies followed at New York’s Mannes College of Music, and doctoral studies at the University of Toronto.
A passionate educator, Dinuk is committed to helping emerging and mid-career classical artists navigate the classical music industry in today’s increasingly complex, diverse and globalized world. As a Creativity Consultant he serves private clients as well as students of the Banff Centre (Evolution Classical) and Toronto’s Glenn Gould School. Dinuk also served as Music Director of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra for 13 seasons. He is also the recipient of the Canada Council Jean-Marie Beaudet award for orchestral conducting, the NS Established Artist Award and the Sema Jazz Improvisation Prize, among many others. His music and collaborative work embrace the great diversity of his international background and influences.
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