Iranian composer, lyricist and vocalist Parvaz Homay performed at the George Weston Recital Hall in Toronto, Canada on June 12.
Italian Enrico Gerola was the conductor of the symphony orchestra.
His performance in Persian and Italian repertoires accompanied by the ‘setar’ a Persian musical instrument was mesmerizing, Honaronline reported.
One of the vocal pieces was a combination of Italian language and Gilaki dialect from Iran’s Gilan Province, much to the surprise of the audience who comprised a large number of Iranians.
The piece ‘Rigoletto’, of which libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave, Italian opera librettist, and ‘O Sole Mio’, composed by Eduardo di Capua were among the Italian repertoires at the concert, along with Persian which included ‘Lonely’, ‘Mother’, ‘Moon Piece’, ‘Voice of Glance’, and ‘Infinite Land’.
Homay is a traditional Persian singer who has performed previously on many international stages, including Canada. In recent years, he has been working with Italian classical music masters to merge eastern traditional with western classical music.
Gerola started playing piano at the age of five. When he was 10, he began his studies at the Conservatorium in Toronto.
Gerola started to work early with opera singers and in opera productions in Italy, Germany, Sweden and England. In 2006 he conducted his first opera ‘Suor Angelica’, and in 2007, ‘Gianni Schicchi’ followed. Since then, he began conducting symphonic and operatic repertoires regularly.
Homay, 36, known by his birth name as Saieed Jafarzadeh, but better known as Homay, is the founder of the Mastan Ensemble, and is specialized in Persian classical-style music.
Homay and the Mastan Ensemble enjoyed success after the release of their album ‘Meeting with Sinners Among the Flames’, written, composed and sung by Homay.
Over the past several years, he has been working on an international project ‘Saving Our Planet Earth’. To compile the various components of this project both musically and artistically, Homay has spent much time traveling and conducting research in various countries in Africa and in India, besides Iran.
