Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat in Concert

NORTHAMPTON, MA — The Smith College Department of Music, Department of Religion, and Middle East Studies Program present Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat in concert with guest artist Bridget Kibbey on Sunday, March 31 at 3 p.m. in Sweeney Concert Hall. The internationally celebrated Iranian singers, composers, and activists Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat are known for their deep connection to heritage and innovative musical expression. They have invited world-renowned harpist Bridget Kibbey to perform with them at Smith College in a collaboration that blends the intricate Persian textures of modes, melodies, and poetry with the evocative improvisations of the harp. The free Easter Sunday concert does not require tickets and is part of a week-long residency that includes a talk at the UMASS Fine Arts Center, classroom visits, and workshops.

Together and separately, Marjan and Mahsa Vahdat have developed pedagogical expertise teaching classical Persian singing to Iranian and non-Iranian students. Their work is known for its deeply affective lyrics rooted in traditional and contemporary Iranian poetry and music drawn from regional traditions of Khorasan and Lorestan as well as religious music from Armenia. Both have contributed to the empowerment of Iranian women by encouraging them to give voice to their life experiences and are role models for many young Iranian women singers in post-Islamic Revolution Iran. Today they live in exile in the Bay Area (Mahsa) and Sacramento (Marjan), California.

Their joint awards include a 2013 Independent Music Award for the album Twinklings of Hope, and a 2019 Transglobal Award for Placeless (a collaboration with Kronos Quartet). Mahsa has also won a Freemuse Award (Denmark, 2010), a German Critics Award (2016), a Songlines Magazine Best Album Award (2015) for Traces of an Old Vineyard. Marjan was nominated in 2023 for best artist by Songlines and her recent album Our Garden Is Alone reached #1 on the Transglobal World Music Chart.

Extraordinary harpist Bridget Kibbey, called “the Yo-Yo Ma of the harp (Vogue Magazine),” is in demand for her virtuosic and soulful performances that transcend her instrument. At ease crossing classical, global, and jazz genres, Kibbey dives deep into historic narratives—from the Baroque, to the French Belle Époque to Persian Modes, to Nuevo Latino traditions—while resonating within the vanguard of the new. According to the New York Times “…she made it seem as though her instrument had been waiting all its life to explode with the energetic figures and colors she was getting from it.” Kibbey is a winner of a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, Premiere Prix at the Journées de les Harpes Competition, made her NPR Tiny Desk Solo Debut, and is the only harpist to win a place in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program.

The Vahdat Sisters and Bridget Kibbey invite audiences to explore with them a musical landscape that transcends boundaries and languages, embracing the beauty of diversity and the universality of human sentiments through their wide-ranging repertoire during the Sunday concert. The week-long residency is a great opportunity to experience the rich and diverse culture of the Middle East, with its interconnectedness of religion, music, and poetry and to gain a deeper understanding of how societies negotiate crucial issues through songs and music, turning these media into platforms for social activism and change. The public can hear Mahsa and Marjan in conversation as part of the UMASS Codemakers series on Friday, March 29 at noon at the Fine Arts Center.

Co-Sponsored by UMass Fine Arts Center, Amherst College Music Department, Mount Holyoke Music Department, the Smith College Lecture Fund, the Lewis Global Studies Center, the Kent Fund, the Wilson Rikert Fund, the Sams Fund, the Rood Memorial Chamber Concert Fund, and the Smith Office for the Arts (SOFA).