Arts & Humanities Campus News

Trio to perform intimate show at Ramsey Concert Hall

From left, Shahzad Ismaily, Vijay Iyer and Arooj Aftab will take the Ramsey Concert Hall stage on Oct. 17. (Photo by Ebru Yildiz)

Ramsey Concert Hall will play host for an uncommonly moving evening of music on Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m.

Singer Arooj Aftab, the first Pakistani artist to win a Grammy, will be joined by pianist Vijay Iyer and bassist Shahzad Ismaily. They’ll perform selections from “Love in Exile,” an album of haunting soundscapes.

“We felt it from the first moment,” Iyer says of the group’s debut performance five years ago. “We were mystified and almost silent and said, ‘I don’t know what just happened. But we should do that again.’”

Iyer, one of the leading jazz pianists of his generation and a MacArthur genius grant winner, and Ismaily, a former sideman for Lou Reed, create lush backgrounds with electronic instruments that cushion Aftab’s rich voice. The music invites the listener in, traveling at an unhurried pace toward mysteries that unfold slowly.

This performance is just one of the more meditative concerts in the UGA Presents season. On Nov. 17, jazz trumpeter and film and opera composer Terence Blanchard appears in Hodgson Concert Hall with his band E-Collective and the Turtle Island Quartet. On Feb. 9, the American Contemporary Music Ensemble returns with a Ramsey Concert Hall program of music by the late Icelandic film composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (“Sicario,” “Arrival,” “The Theory of Everything”).

This performance is supported by Pamela and Greg Mitsoff.

Three ways to get tickets

  1. Purchase tickets online at pac.uga.edu.
  2. Call the Performing Arts Center box office at 706-542-4400, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  3. Visit the UGA Performing Arts Center box office, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (five-minute parking is available in the drop off circle at the Performing Arts Center for purchasing or picking up tickets.)

Single tickets begin at $25, and UGA student tickets are just $10. Parking is free.

To learn more about all UGA Performing Arts Center events, visit pac.uga.edu.