Chancellor: University of Bradford
Mr Imran Khan
Mr Imran Khan
Shahbaz Hussain is fast emerging as one of the most promising Tabla virtuosos of his generation.
Shahbaz began learning Tabla at the age of 5 under the watchful eye of his father, the late Ustad Mumtaz Hussain, a prominent vocalist. He later went on to study with Tabla legends Ustad Faiyaz Khan from the Delhi Gharana school), and the late Ustad Shaukat Hussain Khan from the Punjab Gharana, and finally the late Ustad Allah Rakha Khan. He has played with nearly all the great master musicians of India and Pakistan. Some of the great musicians he has played with are Ustad Imrat Khan, Ustad Nishat Khan, Ustad Salamat Ali Khan and Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan, to name only a few.
He has played in some of the most prestigious venues and festivals around the world like the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Lincoln Center in New York and the prestigious Royal Albert Hall, to name but a few.
At the age of 25 he has achieved a tremendous amount of recognition, being an extremely versatile Tabla player, on the one hand holding all the imperative traditional skills, while on the other the ability to project those skills to more contemporary styles including jazz and even south Indian/ north Indian. His solo performances have gained great recognition all over the world.
The roots of Hallé Brass go back to the 1960s when the 'Hallé Brass Consort' was one of only a few professional groups in existence, and indeed was one of the most pioneering. John McCabe's Rounds, one of the most important works in the brass repertoire, was especially commissioned by the Hallé Brass Consort. They subsequently recorded the piece along with other original works by Malcolm Arnold and Edward Gregson. Today's Hallé Brass follow on in this tradition; essentially a quintet, it expands up to seven players to facilitate the performance of larger, more complex arrangements.
In addition to their busy schedule in the recording studio, Hallé Brass are much in demand in the concert hall where their distinctive mix of first-rate musicianship and virtuosity delights audiences both in this country and abroad. Since the members of Hallé Brass are soloists in their own right, any concert given by the group always features several solo pieces. These are often specially arranged for the soloist and the group. In fact, arrangements unique to Hallé Brass make up a large element of the group's repertoire.
Recording is a major facet of the group's work. After the success of their first album, Hallé Brass plays Gregson (released on the Doyen label), came the highly acclaimed Furioso, an exciting compilation of new works and innovative arrangements, on which the members of Hallé Brass exhibit their abilities both as fine chamber musicians and as outstanding soloists.
