Middle Eastern Festival Sponsors: Office of External Affairs, Professional Performance Division, Office for Diversity and Inclusion, Office of Faculty Development, and Mediterranean Music Institute. Thank you Roger H. Brown, President Tom Riley, Vice President, External Affairs Mirek Vana, Global Development Officer, Institutional Advancement Matthew Nicholl, Associate Vice President, Global Initiatives Matt Marvuglio, Dean, Performance Division Ron Savage, Chair, Ensemble Department Anne Peckham, Chair, Voice Department Roya Hu, Director, Faculty Development Kevin Johnson, Director, Diversity and Inclusion Production Team Inna Dudukina, Production and Music Assistant, Rehearsal Pianist, Music Preparation Dana Protsenko, Assistant/Coordinator Guy Bernfeld, Maxime Cholley, Rhythm Section Coordinators Christina Azarian, Language Consultant, Administrative Assistant, Rehearsal Pianist Layth Sidiq, String Quartet Coordinator Rohith Jayaraman, Assistant Choral Coordinator Alejo Planchart, Stage Crew Reggie Lofton, Video Services Cathy Horn, Tim Paul Weiner, Concert Office Tigran Hamasyan Known for melding jazz, folk, progressive rock, and classical forms, Armenian pianist and composer Tigran Hamasyan has established himself as one of the most innovative artists of his age. He has received an impressive number of accolades, including the top piano award at the 2013 Montreux Jazz Festival and the grand prize at the 2006 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition at age 19. In 2015, Hamasyan won the Paul Acket Award at the North Sea Jazz Festival. The following year, he earned the Echo Jazz Award (the German Grammy) for International Instrumentalist of the Year, Piano, for his album Mockroot. Hamasyan's latest album, An Ancient Observer, will be released later this month. It will be his second solo album for Nonesuch Records, and his eighth overall as a leader. Conceptually, An Ancient Observer is a poignant album focusing on the art of observing. “It's something that humans have been practicing for ages, sometimes even subliminally,” Hamasyan says. “It's the feeling of the ancient eternal and impermanent versus the present- day eternal and impermanent. The intertwining of the ancient and the modern worlds creates an existential feeling. This album is presenting the observation of the world we live in now and the weight of our history we carry on our shoulders, which is influencing us even if we don't realize it. This album is the observation of influences and experiences I've had.”