The debut concert of Canberra’s Jazmourian Ensemble is coming up this weekend, with music inspired by ancient Persian and early western music.

Formed by husband-and-wife duo, Anna Mcdonald and Malek Mohammadi Nejad, Jazmourian will explore cultural intersections, asking “What do the music of the east and west have in common?”

McDonald, already very famous here as a baroque violinist (and now kamancheh player), was born in Canberra and completed her bachelor of music at the old Canberra (now ANU) School of Music, receiving the Friends’ Prize for outstanding graduate.

She went on to study violin at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and there became concertmaster of the Gabrieli Consort and Players, the Hanover Band and the Avison Ensemble.

After her return to Australia in 1999, she became the founding concertmaster of Pinchgut Opera. She was also the concertmaster of the ABC’s recording orchestras  Sinfonia Australis and Orchestra of the Antipodes, before a developing interest in music of the east led to a composition-based PhD at the ANU.

It also led to a three-year period in Armenia and Iran, during which she married the Iranian setar (not to be confused with Indian sitar) player, Malek Mohammadi Nejad. In 2021 they recorded their first CD of music, Karavankosh, made up of four original compositions written for the unusual combination of Iranian setar and the bowed, stringed instrument the kamancheh, which McDonald has now mastered.

The couple have now made their home in Canberra, where McDonald is lecturing at her alma mater.

They will perform the music of Karavankosh, as well as new compositions created in their new home town for kamancheh, setar and the setar-like shurangiz.

The Alchemy of Ancient Song Roads, followed by Persian tea and cake, Ainslie Arts Centre, Braddon, October 13.

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