Ancient European and Persian music come to Nicosia

This November, the Pharos Arts Foundation presents mezzo-soprano Anousha Nazari and guitarist Antoine Morinière in an unusually intimate Nicosia recital in which European early music meets the Persian musical tradition. Mark your calendars for November 19, for a musical evening at The Shoe Factory. Coming together on stage is Anousha Nazari, an awarded singer by the International Prize at the Tehran Music Festival and the globe-trotting musician Antoine Morinière. Nazari was born on the shores of the Caspian Sea before moving to France in 2016, where she went on to appear at major European venues. Her repertoire and artistic identity fuse Persian and European influences and build a bridge between these two worlds. Winner of numerous international guitar competitions, including the First Prizes at the International Sevilla Guitar Competition, the Wien Guitar Competition and the Santa Cecilia International Competition, Antoine Morinière performs worldwide in venues such as Philharmonie de Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, Palau de la Musica in Barcelona and in renowned festivals such as Bachfest Leipzig, London Guitar Festival and Radio France Festival. For their concert on Thursday, November 19, at 8.30pm, Nazari and Morinière will perform works by Handel, Dowland and Strozzi, alongside music by the 15th-century Persian composer Maraghi and in Morinière’s own setting of poems by the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi. In these wonderful arrangements for voice and guitar, the expressive links between these different musical traditions reveal themselves in the power of poetry and in the intense ornamental and melodic writing that brings centuries-old poetry into a new musical language with striking lucidity and passion. European Baroque meets Persian Early Music Recital with mezzo-soprano Anousha Nazari and guitarist Antoine Morinière. November 19. The Shoe Factory, Nicosia. 8.30pm. Tel. 22-663871. www.pharosartsfoundation.org, www.soldoutticketbox.com