Kayhan Kalhor & The Rembrandt Trio

Kalhor, a virtuoso on the bowed string instrument, is a long-time member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. But this set-up, alongside the Jazz pianist Rembrandt Frerichs and his Trio, promises something different. ‘You can’t really categorise it,’ he says. ‘It’s not Jazz, it’s not Classical, it’s just an organic something we do with our instruments where the focal point is improvisation.’

The pianist has always embraced this fluid approach, blending the Jazz tradition, Classical music and the Arabic music that he fell in love with while living in Egypt. It’s a musical language of great emotional depth, enriched by his singular approach to the fortepiano, the keyboard instrument once gifted to the Shah of Persia by Napoleon. Here these two worlds meet again, as Frerichs takes a seat behind the fortepiano alongside bassist Tony Overwater and Vinsent Planjer (percussion) on period instruments.

Support comes from the Awj Trio: Maya Youssef, Mehdi Rostami and Adib Rostami.