The Cornell Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Ensemble is already extremely fortunate to work under the leadership of the well-known Armenian-American violinist and record producer, Harold Hagopian. For their Fall concert, on December 6th (7.30 pm, The Carriage House, Stewart Avenue), the Ensemble will be joined by Harold’s father and a living legend, Richard Hagopian. Richard has been a musician since childhood, learning to play the violin and clarinet at only nine years old. He started playing the oud at age of 12. He studied Eastern (Ottoman Classical) music theory and oud under the internationally famous Armenian artist Kanouni Garbis Bakirgian. Hagopian gained fame in the 1960s and 70s with the Kef Time Band, formed originally as the band for a Las Vegas show called the Cleopatra Revue, which ran at the Flamingo Hotel from 1963-1967. Hagopian has performed throughout the United States and taught a master class at the Manhattan School of Music, as well as teaching as artist-in-residence at California State University. .

For Sunday night’s performance, the band will also be joined by the fine Turkish percussion player Engin Gunaydin. The concert is supported by Near Eastern Studies, the Music Department and the Mediterranean Studies Initiative of the Cornell Institute for European Studies.