ELDAR A Jazz Performance and Demonstration
Meet jazz pianist and composer Eldar, whose playing was once described by the late Dr. Billy Taylor, the Kennedy Center’s then–Artistic Director for Jazz, as “showing brilliance, complexity, and discipline… he’s serious about his music; he’s thoughtful about what he does.” Jazz is a form that requires each artist’s individual style to clearly emerge, and Eldar is an example of an artist doing just that. At this performance/demonstration, the 24-yearold Eldar will offer his unique perspective on how to turn an old classic inside out and how he approaches his own compositions. You’ll also have an opportunity to learn the art of active listening and how to interpret music.
Eldar: What You Should Know • Eldar Djangirov (pronounced EL-dar jan-GEER-off) was born in 1987 in Kyrgyzstan in the former Soviet Union.
• In 1996, a jazz enthusiast from New York City named Charles McWhorter heard Eldar play at a jazz festival in Russia. McWhorter arranged for the young musician to attend the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts summer camp in Michigan. • When he was 11, Eldar and his family left their native country and moved to Kansas City, Missouri, a place famous for its jazz history. • Eldar earned a Grammy® nomination in 2008 (one of music’s highest honors).
Listen Up! Check out more about the history of jazz at Jazz in Time http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/multimedia/series/ AEMicrosites/jazz-in-time Performances for Young Audiences is made possible by
Crackerfarm/Courtesy Sony Music Entertainment, Inc.
• At age three, Eldar began playing piano. His mother, a university music teacher, started him on the basics of classical music. His father, an avid jazz fan, introduced him to jazz recordings at the age of five. It didn’t take long—Eldar became hooked on jazz.