“Persia to Iberia”: Bridget Kibbey, harp, Mahsa Vahdat, vocals, and John Hadfield, percussion

Schubert Club’s 2022-2023 Featured Artist, harpist Bridget Kibbey, uses the concert harp as her musical passport to explore the irrevocable effects of the Islamic Golden Era—in her newest project, entitled “Persia to Iberia.” Alongside special guests— master musicians percussionist John Hadfield and Iranian vocalist Mahsa Vahdat—Kibbey transforms the concert harp into a guitar, a kora, a santir, and an oud as she invites audiences to join her…as she travels backwards through time…starting in Andalusia and the Iberian Peninsula, down through the African Maghreb, and East towards Ancient Persia —where the story begins.

The event adds up to be a celebration of the modes, sounds, and poetry of Iran – forging some of our greatest literature and musical forms to-date!

The concert will be colored by flamenco-esque harmonies, the music of Albeniz, traditional melodies of the Gnawa, Sephardi and Kora traditions, stunning works by John Hadfield, inspired by his travels and study of percussion techniques in India, the Middle East and beyond…and finishing with a set of songs — melodies written by the incredible Mahsa Vahdat, a modern emblem of freedom, in settings of her own poetry and works of Rumi and Hafez— buffered by improvisations of Bridget Kibbey on the harp and John Hadfield on percussion.