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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 23, 2015
Media Contacts:
Amy Mannarino, (202) 783-7373
[email protected]
Stacy Meteer, (202) 783-7377
[email protected]
National Museum of Women in the Arts Presents Guitarist Lily Afshar Apr. 22
as part of Shenson Chamber Music Concerts
WASHINGTON—The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) presents a lineup of
acclaimed performers as part of the annual Shenson Chamber Music Concerts under the artistic direction
of Gilan Tocco Corn. These concerts contribute to the museum’s mission of recognizing and supporting
women in all areas of the arts. Women musicians have been impressing audiences through NMWA’s free
concert series for 17 years. The series was named in honor of Drs. Ben and A. Jess Shenson, who were
longtime supporters of the museum and lovers of music.
Join NMWA in welcoming guitarist Lily Afshar on Wednesday,
April 22, 2015, 7:30–9:30 p.m. Highly regarded worldwide for her
innovative music, Afshar has performed in solo, chamber music and
orchestral performance venues in North and South America, Europe, Asia
and Africa, including London’s Wigmore Hall and the Kennedy Center for
the Performing Arts. Her recordings have garnered recognition in Billboard
magazine and on National Public Radio.
An extraordinary and accomplished artist, Afshar has built her
career on a foundation of excellent formal education. With a bachelor’s degree from The Boston
Conservatory, she earned her Master of Music at The New England Conservatory and went on to study at
Florida State University, where she became the first woman in the world to be awarded the degree of
Doctor of Music in guitar performance. She pursued greater proficiency with summer studies at The
Banff Centre and the Aspen Music Festival and School, advanced training at Gargnano, Italy, the
Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena and master classes with Andrés Segovia at the University of
Southern California.
Since becoming a tenured professor and head of the guitar program at the University of Memphis
Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music, Afshar has received the 2000 Eminent Faculty Award, and in 2011 she
was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award from The Boston Conservatory. As a performing
guitarist, she has won a top prize in the Guitar Foundation of America Competition, Grand Prize in the
Aspen Music Festival Guitar Competition, the Orville H. Gibson Award for Best Female Classical
Guitarist and a National Endowment for the Arts Recording Award, among others, and she was chosen as
an “Artistic Ambassador” to Africa for the United States Information Agency.
Because of Afshar’s passion for going beyond the traditional guitar repertoire, contemporary
classical composers have sought her for creative collaborations. Her notable world premieres have
included works by Carlo Domeniconi, Reza Vali, Garry Eister, Gerard Drozd, Loris Chobanian, Arne
Mellnäs, Kamran Ince, Barbara Kolb, Marilyn J. Ziffrin, David Kechley and Salvador Brotons.
A Jug of Wine and Thou: Music of Persia and Andalusia
Program
Lily Afshar, guitar
Mallorca
Isaac Albéniz
(1860–1909)
Asturias
arr. by Lily Afshar
Isaac Albéniz
Capricho Árabe
Francisco Tárrega
(1852–1909)
Spanish Dance #5 (Andaluza)
arr. by Lily Afshar
Enrique Granados
(1867–1916)
Invocation & Dance
(Homage to Manuel de Falla)
Joaquín Rodrigo
(1901–1999)
Francisco Tárrega
Recuerdos de la Alhambra
Tango
arr. by Lily Afshar
Isaac Albéniz
Sevilla
arr. by Lily Afshar
Isaac Albéniz
Intermission
All works arranged for the guitar by Lily Afshar. From Persia except where otherwise indicated.
Gol-E Gandome
Anonymous
Dareneh Jaan/Aziz Joon
Anonymous
Jaan-e Maryam
Kambiz Mojdehi
Leila-Leila
Anonymous
Lala-Ee
Anonymous
Mastom-Mastom
Anonymous
Kuchalara Susap Misham (Azerbaijan)
Anonymous
Baroon Barooneh
Anonymous
Dokhtar-e Boyer Ahmadi
Anonymous
Sene de Qalmaz (Azerbaijan)
Tofiq Guliyev
(1917–2000)
Rashid Khan
Anonymous
Over the years, the Shenson Chamber Music Concert series has welcomed emerging and
established artists, including the Ahn Trio, Christine Brewer, Sara Daneshpour, Sara Davis Buechner,
Simone Dinnerstein, the Eroica Trio, Ingrid Fliter, Sharon Isbin, Olga Kern, Valentina Lisitsa and
Eugenia Zukerman.
All Shenson Chamber Music Concerts are FREE with reservations. Visit nmwa.org/shenson
to register. NMWA is located at 1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20005—two blocks
north of Metro Center. NMWA has partnered with Parking Panda, the nationwide leader in online parking
reservations, to allow visitors to purchase guaranteed parking at nearby parking garages. Visit
https://www.parkingpanda.com/national-museum-of-women-in-the-arts-parking to reserve your parking
with Parking Panda.
Shenson Chamber Music Concerts are partially supported by generous gifts from Fred M. Levin
and Nancy Livingston, The Shenson Foundation, in memory of Drs. Ben and A. Jess Shenson. Additional
support is provided by Washington Marriott at Metro Center and Sofitel Washington D.C. Lafayette
Square.
National Museum of Women in the Arts
Founded in 1981 and opened in 1987, NMWA is the only museum solely dedicated to celebrating the
achievements of women in the visual, performing and literary arts. The museum’s collection features
4,700 works from the 16th century to the present created by more than 1,000 artists, including Mary
Cassatt, Frida Kahlo, Alma Thomas, Lee Krasner, Louise Bourgeois, Chakaia Booker and Nan Goldin,
along with special collections of 18th-century silver tableware and botanical prints. NMWA is located at
1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C., in a landmark building near the White House. It is open
Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. and Sunday, noon–5 p.m. For information, call 202-783-5000 or visit
nmwa.org. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for visitors 65 and over and students, and free for NMWA
members and youths 18 and under. Free Community Days take place on the first Sunday of each month.
For more information about NMWA, visit nmwa.org, Broad Strokes Blog, Facebook or Twitter.
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