TEHRAN – Iranian vocalist Mohammad Motamedi is in Amsterdam to hold a master class and concerts along with the Dutch trio Rembrandt.

In the master class held on Tuesday at Codarts Rotterdam, a major art university in the Netherlands, Motamedi talked about improvisation in Persian traditional music, Motamedi said in a post published on his Instagram.

He also spoke about the relationship between Persian poetry and vocal Iranian music.

For many years, the Rembrandt Frerichs Trio has been collaborating with Iranian musicians, Europe Jazz Network said in a statement published on Sunday. 

The jazz trio has visited Iran a number of times and worked together in the past with famous Iranian musicians such as Kayhan Kalhor and Hossein Alizadeh.

The trio’s fascination for Iranian music is strongly connected to the Iranian specialization in improvisation that finds its origin in Persian classical music and poetry. 

The statement also called Motamedi a singer of Iranian poetry, who knows many poems by heart and decides on the spot what he will sing next, and added, “Motamedi is a perfect fit for another exciting collaboration with the Rembrandt Frerichs Trio.”

Motamedi and the trio, which is composed of pianist Rembrandt Frerichs, contrabass player Tony Overwater and percussionist Vinsent Planjer, will give a performance at Kaap in Oostende, Belgium on Thursday.

Their next concert will be held at Bimhuis, a prime jazz club in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, which is widely considered to be one of the main clubs for adventurous music in the world.

The Rembrandt Frerichs Trio gave its first Iranian performance during the 32nd Fajr International Music Festival at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on January 13, 2016.

The trio also visited Tehran next year to perform another concert during the Fajr music festival.

Motamedi and the group have previously collaborated in a joint concert in 2018 during the 2nd Dutch Edition of the Oriental Landscapes. They performed on June 21 at the Korzo Theater in The Hague.    

The trio, Kalhor and Iranian-Austrian cello star Kian Soltani also gave a concert in the Bimhuis jazz club in October 2020.

Photo: An undated photo shows vocalist Mohammad Motamedi and the Rembrandt Frerichs Trio performing a concert.

MMS/YAW