Date/Time
Date(s) - 05/08/2026
8:00 pm - 10:00 pm

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Location
509 Atlantic Avenue at 3rd Avenue

Categories

Cost:
$35 advance*; $40 at door; $30 seniors & students with ID (advance* and at door) *+$2.50 processing fee per advance ticket USD
Contact Person:
Helene Browning
Email:

Website:

Phone:
718-541-2366
Organization:
Robert Browning Associates

The program is dedicated to the music of Maestro Muhammed Qadri Dalal, the renowned oud (lute) virtuoso, composer, scholar, and iconic musical figure of Aleppo. Born in 1946, Dalal has performed with many of the most important traditional singers since the 1970s, including Sabah Fakhri, Sabri Mudallal, and Adib al-Dayekh, and composed works for numerous singers across Syria and the Arab world, including Shadi Jameel from Syria and Lotfi Boshnaq from Tunisia. This concert offers a rare opportunity to experience Dalal’s music in New York, honoring his artistry while sharing the vitality of his living legacy with new audiences. Many of the works presented are US premieres.

The program is performed by the Syrian Music Preservation Initiative’s acclaimed ensemble, Takht al-Nagham, which performs in the traditional takht (Arab chamber music) style, and is committed to presenting Syrian classical and folk repertoire that is rarely heard in the US. The ensemble features SMPI’s Syrian-born director and founder Samer Ali (violin), SMPI president Marissa Arciola Ali (bass, chorus), Gideon Forbes (nay – flute), Gabriel Lavin (oud – lute), Jeremy Smith (riq – tambourine), Marwa Morgan (vocal soloist), and Larkin Grimm (chorus).

The program weaves together a rich tapestry of sama’is and muwashahat, spanning works by Dalal’s teacher, his own original compositions, and pieces by his students. Together, these works illuminate the living chain of transmission at the heart of the maqam (mode) tradition, tracing how musical knowledge, sensibility, and craft are passed across generations. Presented in an intimate chamber setting, the program focuses on Dalal’s original compositions, which combine deep knowledge of the maqam tradition with his own distinctive creative voice.

The Syrian Music Preservation Initiative is dedicated to preserving and invigorating the diverse ethnic and regional music traditions of Syria. Its performances promote the musical heritage of this region by presenting older works that are less known to the general public, as well as supporting contemporary exploration of the traditional forms by commissioning composers from Syria and the diaspora. In this way, the past, present and future of Syrian music is celebrated.

Samer Ali, a native of Syria, is a physician, violinist, musical director of Takht al-Nagham, and founder and artistic director of the Syrian Music Preservation Initiative. He began studying Western classical violin at the age of eight with Fawaz al-Ali and later pursued conservatory studies with Ali Mukhtar Babayev. He studied the Arab violin and classical music traditions with Ali Farran and Ziad Ajjan (both students of composer and scholar Mahmoud Ajjan), Simon Shaheen, Anwar Hariri, and Muhammed Qadri Dalal. He has collaborated with musicians in the US and Syria, such as Khaleel Haj Hussein, Ramez Khaskiyya, Bassam Saba, and Michel Merhej, and has performed with the National Arab Orchestra and the New York Arabic Orchestra.

April 28th of this year marks the 50th anniversary of Robert and Helene Browning presenting concerts of music and dance from around the world – an incredible journey with more than 2,500 concerts in New York and tours throughout the US by artists from Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, and the Americas. These presentations have been under the auspices of the Alternative Museum (previously called the ACIA), World Music Institute, and Robert Browning Associates. It was on April 28, 1976 that we presented the Andean group Tahuantinsuyo at the Alternative Center for International Arts (ACIA) on East 4th Street in Manhattan.