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KAYHAN KALHOR WITH THE VANCOUVER SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2026

ORPHEUM THEATER

Vancouver, Canada

For one night only, experience internationally acclaimed kamancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor in concert with the VSO in Vancouver, Canada.

Instrumental in popularizing Iranian music around the world, Kalhor has performed at the world’s leading concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, and toured as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic. In 2017, Kayhan Kalhor won a Grammy Award with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silkroad Ensemble, where he is a founding member.

Composed by Kalhor, Silent City is a powerful elegy—an extended meditation on loss, memory, and resilience. Originally performed with the string quartet Brooklyn Rider, the work seamlessly weaves Persian classical modes (dastgah) into the harmonic language of Western chamber music.

Atashgah (Persian: آتشگاه), meaning “Fire Temple,” draws on ancient Zoroastrian symbolism and Persian mystical traditions. Inspired by Kalhor’s artistry, violinist and composer Colin Jacobsen wrote the piece as a musical homage, channeling the spiritual intensity and improvisatory spirit of the Iranian kamancheh tradition.

Program

Atashgah (Fire Temple) - Colin Jacobsen
Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur - Kayhan Kalhor
Silent City - Kayhan Kalhor

Orpheum Theater, Vancouver

About Kayhan Kalhor

Kayhan Kalhor is an internationally acclaimed virtuoso on the kamancheh (spiked fiddle), who through his many musical collaborations has been instrumental in popularizing Iranian music around the world and is a creative force in today’s music scene. His performances of traditional Persian music and multiple collaborations have attracted audiences around the globe. He has studied the music of Iran’s many regions, in particular those of Khorason and Kordestan, and has toured the world as a soloist with various ensembles and orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and the Orchestre National de Lyon. He is co-founder of the renowned ensembles Dastan and Masters of Persian Music. Kalhor has composed works for Iran’s most renowned vocalists Mohammad Reza Shajarian and Shahram Nazeri and has also performed and recorded with Iran’s greatest instrumentalists. He has composed music for television and film and was featured on the soundtrack of Francis Ford Copolla’s Youth Without Youth in a score that he collaborated on with Osvaldo Golijov. John Adams invited him to give a solo recital at Carnegie Hall as part of his Perspectives Series and he has appeared on a double bill at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, sharing the program with the Festival Orchestra performing the Mozart Requiem. Kayhan is an original member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project for whom he continues to compose for and tour with. His compositions appear on all of the Ensemble’s albums. His most recent albums include Silent City, collaboration with Brooklyn Rider and I Will Not Stand Alone with santoor player Ali Bahrami Fard. Kayhan has been nominated for three Grammys and in 2017 was awarded a Grammy with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble.

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About Trevor Wilson

Trevor Wilson is a conductor and composer who from 2022–2025 held the position of RBC Resident Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and served as Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra during the 2024/2025 season. Trevor has also appeared as a guest conductor with orchestras across Canada, including the NAC Orchestra and Symphony Nova Scotia, and was recently appointed RBC Resident Conductor of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

Under the mentorship of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Trevor was among the inaugural cohort of the Orchestre Métropolitain’s Orchestral Conducting Academy, participating from 2021–2024. Also active in the musical community of his native Ottawa, Trevor has directed the University of Ottawa Orchestra and, in 2017, co-founded the Ottawa Pops Orchestra, having served as Music Director until 2019 and continuing to collaborate with the ensemble to the present day.

Having attended numerous masterclasses and festivals, Trevor has had the opportunity to study under internationally renowned conductors and pedagogues such as Alexander Shelley, David Zinman, Gerard Schwarz, Neil Varon, and served as assistant conductor of the National Academy Orchestra of Canada under the late Boris Brott in summer 2019. Trevor completed his graduate studies in orchestral conducting under Marin Alsop at the Peabody Conservatory.

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About Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

Founded in 1919, the Grammy and Juno-award winning Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is the third largest orchestra in Canada, the largest arts organization in Western Canada, and one of the few orchestras in the world to have its own music school.

Led by Music Director Otto Tausk since 2018, the VSO performs more than 150 concerts each year, throughout Vancouver and the province of British Columbia, reaching over 270,000 people annually. On tour the VSO has performed in the United States, China, Korea and across Canada.

The orchestra presents passionate, high-quality performances of classical, popular and culturally diverse music, creating meaningful engagement with audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

Recent guest artists include Daniil Trifonov, Dawn Upshaw, James Ehnes, Adrianne Pieczonka, Gidon Kremer, Renée Fleming, Yefim Bronfman, Itzhak Perlman, Bernadette Peters, Tan Dun, and more.

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