“I encourage people to flow with the music, to let the music bring them to [where they must go],” she shares of her hopes for the audience. “I want them to feel it in their own way.”

This concert will also feature pianists Tina Chang and Karen Lee-Morlang, harpist Vivian Chen, violinist Cameron Wilson and guitarist Keith Sinclair.

A lifelong passion

Khaledi started playing the santour at the age of five. Her father was her first teacher; he also introduced Khaledi to different instruments, including the Persian drum Tombak.

Inspired by the way her father played the santour, Khaledi eventually chose it as her main instrument. She is also drawn to the instrument’s “sustained” sound, created through the vibration of the “bouncing” strings.

“We use our wrists to play,” she shares. “The sustained [aspect] was so magical to me – I could flow with the sound.”

The santour has 72 strings on a trapezoid body made of wood. Played with mallets, the instrument has three registers: medium, low and high.

“The santour is basically the grandfather of today’s piano,” Khaledi shares. “If you see the mallets, it’s very similar to the piano’s hammers.”

Khaledi’s santour was created in Vancouver. The local instrument maker modernized the santour by adding levers for tuning. Prior to these levers, musicians had to tune the instrument from the base.

A poetic celebration

When Erick Lichte, artistic director of Chor Leoni, approached Khaledi to compose a song for their Christmas concert, Khaledi thought of her family’s Yalda Night celebrations. This year’s Yalda Night occurs on Dec. 21, marking the Winter Solstice.

“In our culture, we celebrate [by] gathering with family, reading poetry, having wine and playing music,” Khaledi shares. “[It’s] to make beautiful memories together and celebrate an extra minute of darkness.”

The celebration includes decorating a table with fruits related to fall and winter seasons, such as pomegranates. Candles and flowers are also commonly laid out. For Khaledi, these practices make the house “feel warmer.”

“The tradition is [reading poetry] from Hafez,” she shares. “Everyone asks a favour from Hafez, draws a poem from him, and reads it.”

The poem is intended to provide guidance for the reader. Hafez Shirazi was a 14th century Persian poet known for his lyricism.

Khaledi originally wanted to base her composition on a Hafez poem. After realizing that she couldn’t include a complete version of Hafez’s work in a three-to-four-minute composition, Khaledi turned to Omar Khayyam’s poetry.

“He has beautiful and meaningful quatrains,” she shares of the poet who lived during the 11th and 12th centuries. “When you read them, you’re like, ‘Wow, what was he thinking at that time?’ What an imagination!”

Khayyam was a polymath, recognized for his contributions to astronomy, math and philosophy in addition to the poetic arts. According to Khaledi, his poetry engages with life lessons, particularly the message of living in the present.

Her composition, “My Beloved,” embodies this theme: it is a song about both love and life. Describing it as having a “deep meaning,” Khaledi adds that she composed the song so listeners can clearly hear the poem.

Khaledi – who has performed in Iran, Austria, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea and Taiwan –
believes music is everything, even for non-musicians. It is an international language with healing powers.

Khaledi also drew inspiration from her parents’ 2011 visit to Vancouver. At the time, her father brought an accordion and composed a piece called “The Vancouver Song.”

She uses part of this song’s melody in her composition. The final version is around four and a half minutes long.

“Music is the connection between you and your soul,” she shares. “I have no idea what I’d do without music.”

Khaledi also performed with Chor Leoni during their Remembrance Day concert, an experience that she deeply enjoyed. The upcoming concert also features Franz Gruber’s “Silent Night,” Marie-Claire Saindon’s “Jubilo” (World Premiere) and Dan Forrest’s “In the Bleak Midwinter.”

For more information, see www.chorleoni.org/event/christmas-with-chor-leoni