ˈUntold’ is the first installment of the musician’s ongoing ‘Rumi Symphony Project’ inspired by Sufi wisdom, the English -language newspaper ˈIran Dailyˈ reported on Tuesday.
The album, which was released in March by Sony Classical, is an innovative synthesis of Middle Eastern and western elements introducing the legendary 13th century Persian poet Molana Jalaleddin Rumi’s profound and empowering philosophy with his timeless message of peace, personal transformation and inner wisdom.
Co-produced by Nazeri and David Frost, who was just awarded the Grammy for ‘Producer of the Year, Classical’, ‘Untold’ features 38 Grammy Award winning musicians and engineers and took over four years and over 5,000 studio hours in five countries to complete.
Nazeri is joined in this recording by a profound array of guest artists: tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, Grammy winning drummer Glen Velez, cellists Matt Haimovitz and Johannes Moser, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center violist Paul Neubauer, and the New York Choir.
One of the album’s many highlights is the vocals of Hafez’s father, iconic Persian vocalist Shahram Nazeri, who was the first musician to incorporate Rumi’s poetry into song some forty years ago.