The Dallas Morning News Presents an Evening with the Cliburn Junior
2023 Cliburn in the Community
Date: May 17, 2023 5:30 pm CDT
Venue: Spark! Dallas
Join the Cliburn and The Dallas Morning News at Spark! Dallas for an evening of music and conversation.
RSVP is required. Reserve your seat here.
- 5:30 p.m. Wine & Refreshments
- 6:00 p.m. Concert by Amir Siraj, 2015 Cliburn Junior Competitor
- 6:30 p.m. Q&A moderated by Scott Cantrell
Program
LISZT Paganini Etude No. 5 “La Chasse”
SCHUBERT Impromptu in B-flat Major, op.142, no. 3
SCHUBERT | LISZT “Ständchen” from Schwanengesang, D. 957
LISZT Transcendental Etude No.8, “Wilde Jagd”
ABOUT AMIR SIRAJ
A U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, Amir Siraj has been a featured guest soloist with the Boston Symphony and the Boston Pops, and has played for luminaries such as Korean President Moon Jae-in, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Queen Rania of Jordan. He is a Steinway Young Artist and an alum of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation Young Scholars Program. Amir has performed at venues including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Wigmore Hall in London, and Millenium Park in Chicago, as well as for the GRAMMY® Salute to Classical Music at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Swiss Alps Classics in Vitznau, and JBLFest in Las Vegas. Passionate about using music for social good, he has collaborated with organizations including the National Park Foundation, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Music For Food, most recently establishing the Music For The Parks initiative with the support of NPR’s From The Top.
Amir graduated from Harvard University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in astrophysics in 2022, where he conducted Hasty Pudding Theatricals—the oldest theater group in the United States—and was a member of both the Harvard Krokodiloes and Harvard New Music Ensemble. He was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2021, and his work was named one of ten “extraordinary cosmic revelations” of 2022 by CNN. Amir believes in the intersectional power of the arts and sciences; in October 2022, at the invitation of Yo-Yo Ma, he joined a panel discussion and performance at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris in the company of pianist Emanuel Ax, singer Imany, and head of the European Space Agency Josef Aschbacher, exploring how space and music can inspire humanistic ideals. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in piano at the New England Conservatory of Music, studying under the guidance of Professor Wha Kyung Byun.