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News
Distinguished Composer & Pianist Tania Eshaghoff, Author/Editor Dr. Houman Sarshar
to Present a 'Celebration of Persian Culture' at Dowling College
Iranian composer and pianist Tania Eshaghoff will join author/editor Dr. Houman Sarshar in presenting a "Celebration of Persian Culture" on March 17, 2005 from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. in the Ballroom of Fortunoff Hall on Dowling College's Rudolph Campus in Oakdale. This event is part of Dowling's yearlong celebration of Asian culture and is free and open to the public.
Dr. Sarshar, author/editor of "Esther's Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews," will begin the evening with a narrative about the history of Iran from the Achamenid dynasty until the Islamic revolution in 1978. Eshaghoff will perform original and classical compositions inspired by Persian classical music. Eshaghoff heads an ensemble that features violinist Ali Bello and cellist Chris Hoffman and will perform the debut album Dancing With Souls, a series of symphonic rhapsodies created as a tribute to trainer Javaad Maroufi. Light refreshments will be served.
Born in Tehran, Iran in 1968, Dr. Sarshar received his Ph.D. in comparative literature from Columbia University. Dr. Sarshar is a member of the University Seminar Series at Columbia University; a member of the Board of Directors at the Society for Iranian Studies; and the Director of Publications at the Center for Iranian Jewish Oral History where he is been a member of the board of directors since 1995. He is the co-editor of three volumes of The Contemporary History of Iranian Jews, and a contributing author to the Encyclopædia Iranica. His most recent book, Esther's Children: A Portrait of Iranian Jews was released in 2002.
Dr. Sarshar is graduate of the Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy in New York, and is currently in his fourth year of post-doctoral studies at the Center for Psychoanalytic Perspectives where he is continuing his training as a Jungian analyst. Dr. Sarshar is currently on a two-year sabbatical from his private practice and working on a book of psychoanalysis on the Oedipal complex and the development of the gay male identity.
Eshaghoff provides a musical journey from the old ancient Persian lands to the exciting Western world. It took a revolutionary war in Iran, and a young Persian-Jewish girl's dream to conquer all social barriers of race, religion and gender, to share with the public her interpretation of the music from this ancient beautiful culture. In a community for whom musical training of women was discouraged, this unprecedented female artist will capture the music of her heritage through her piano. The compositions on "Dancing with Souls" reflects the diverse cultural experience of one born to an ancient world and forced to be raised in the modern west due to the political socio-religious revolution of 1979. The music interprets her emotions of a particular segment of that society: "the lost generation of young children who were forced to leave their homeland – Iran."
The most significant influences in both style and substance of Eshaghoff's music stems from the Persian tradition of the santur, with its ornamental rhythm translated into a distinctive pianistic technique. Since 1996, Eshaghoff has been under the musical wing of Dr. Edward Smaldone, Director of Copland School of Music at Queens College. She has also studied music in Europe at the Sienese del Arte del Muscia Institute in Sienna Italy. Her debut concert given at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, 2000 would pave the way for a returned concert at Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall in October of 2002. In May 2002, Eshaghoff performed for the Ambassadors of the Middle East, United Nations League. In April 2003, she performed at the American Museum of Piano, and in May of 2003, she was featured as a guest on George Preston's edition of Overnight Music from WNYC 92.9 FM. For more information about Tania Eshaghoff, please visit www.taniaproductions.com.
About Dowling College
Dowling College is an independent, coeducational college that serves more than 6,500 students at
its historic Rudolph Campus on the banks of the Connetquot River in Oakdale, NY, and the 105-acre
Brookhaven Campus in eastern Long Island and a business center located near the Nassau-Suffolk
border in Melville. Dowling offers Bachelor′s, Master′s, and Doctoral degrees in several
disciplines through its four schools: Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Education.
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