Prince Zal & the Simorgh by David Bruce - Cornwall Youth Orchestra

This piece is the nearest I've been so far to reaching my goal of a performance at the PROMS - it was in the Albert Hall in London, and was part of the Music for Youth Proms there in 2015, so pretty damn close. I'll be talking more about that goal more in a forthcoming video, so I thought I would post this great video to my channel in anticipation.

The fantastic and committed performance is by Cornwall Youth Orchestra. The amazing 15yr old conductor is Angus Webster.

The words were written by Sally Pomme Clayton and are based on part of the epic Persian poem 'The Shahnameh'.

The piece was originally commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with City University

Prince Zal & The Simorgh was written for the LPO 'Brightsparks' series. Elements of Iranian music inspired a 15 minute orchestral work with narrator, telling a tale written by Sally Pomme Clayton, based on part of the epic Iranian/Persian poem The Shahnameh. The piece can be played by a standard conventional orchestra, but in its original version included parts for two professional Iranian musicians (percussion and Tanbur), a student 'Daf Ensemble' and parts for beginner violinists. The latter in particular are a fantastic addition to the piece, allowing young players to play alongside the professional players. Nevertheless the piece was devised with the flexibility of future performances in mind.

Many thanks to Kayhan Kalhor for his kind permission to use a
theme from “Shab-e Kavir” from the album “Night Silence Desert.”