Following its launch performance on June 19, 2007 at Plaisterers Hall in London, Waleed Howrani’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone, Strings, and Percussion will receive its official world premiere at Al Farabi series on October 15, 2008. The English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Clarke Rundell with soloist Simon Haram, will perform the Concerto at Cadogan Hall.

On September 20, 2007, Waleed Howrani gave a lecture-demonstration at Kerrytown Concert House, Ann Arbor, MI, for the Ann Arbor Area Piano Teachers Guild. Howrani’s talk, Sharing the Teachings of Emil Gilels and the Methods of the Russian Piano Pedagogy, included such topics as:

• Piano, the most misunderstood dynamic
• The two sins of rubato
• How to avoid banalities in repeats

Howrani concluded with a rendition of Chopin’s Waltz in A flat major, Op. 34, No. 1.

Words of praise were expressed by guild members, including Katherine Teves, who found his “points well-taken,” and Genie Hollander, who wrote: “Thank you for a great presentation today. Not only was it informative, but creative and fun.”

Lori Jahn, Vice President and Program Chair of the AAAPTG had this to say:

“Thank you so much for your wonderful presentation on September 20…Many members spoke to me after the program and said how much they enjoyed it. I enjoyed your personal anecdotes and the wisdom you gained during your studies with Gilels. I still chuckle about the story you told of Horowitz and his ‘nervous’ pedaling!

“You have much to offer in the area of lecturing and teaching…”

Waleed Howrani’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone, Strings & Percussion was presented by the English Chamber Orchestra on June 19th, 2007, at London’s Plaisterers Hall at a launch concert for the Al Farabi concert series of 2008. Musicstage, the management of the series, “…considers that the music of Waleed Howrani merits the high profile and enduring recognition anticipated for the composers included in the project.”

On June 19, 2007, Waleed Howrani’s work, Concerto for Alto Saxophone, Strings and Percussion, will be presented at a launch concert by the English Chamber Orchestra at Plaisterers Hall, London, UK. The concerto will then have its world premiere at the Al Farabi Concerto series during the 2008-2009 season in London (Queen Elizabeth Hall), Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, as well as in the Middle East.