On this special edition of New Sounds, we take you to the Paul Recital Hall at The Juilliard School where a remarkable performance by virtuoso bassist, Renaud Garcia Fons, and acclaimed theorboist, Claire Antonini, took place earlier this month.
Fons, who is known for expanding his double bass into a five-string instrument that he often plays in an untraditional manner, found himself immersed in the discography of the celebrated tanbur master and philosopher, Ostad Elahi. What came next were a series of interpretations, through which Fons connected with the authenticity and purity of Elahi’s spiritual music practices. Although double bass and tanbur are two instruments from distant families, Fons could relate to Elahi’s desire to expand his three-stringed tanbur into a five-stringed hybrid lute, inventing new playing techniques along the way.
Elahi never performed on stage in his day; and if it weren’t for the recordings his son, Dr. Chahrokh Elahi captured, we would have been deprived of his inimitable improvisations. The documentary directed by Kamran Fallah and narrated by New Sounds host John Schaefer, The Art of Ostad Elahi, demystifies the multifaceted genius of Elahi, who spent most of his professional career as a judge.
Renaud Garcia Fons and Claire Antonini’s live-recorded duet from Paul Hall dives into the sonic universe of Elahi to push its boundaries even further through Fons’s compositions. Antonini’s theorboist’s bass lute range complements the additional high string on Fons’s double bass, becoming a single entity that fuses the cultures of Persian and Baroque European music. – Sırma Munyar
Program #5155, New Sounds Live at Paul Recital Hall: On Music & Meaning (First aired 6/29/26)
(Photo courtesy of the Nour Foundation)
ARTIST: Ostad Elahi
WORK: Jelo Shāhī Suite [1:55]
RECORDING: The Celestial Music of Ostad Elahi
SOURCE: Le Chant du Monde / Nour Foundation
INFO: https://ostadtanbur.com/repertoire/suites/jelo-shahi/gushe-jelo-shahi?r=65bffdb107f94d557dfc97f5
ARTIST: Renaud Garcia-Fons, Claire Antonini
WORK: Awakening [8:26]
RECORDING: New Sounds Live at Paul Recital Hall, June 2026
SOURCE: This performance is not commercially available.
INFO: On Music and Meaning: Interpretations of the Musical Art of Ostad Elahi
ARTIST: Renaud Garcia-Fons, Claire Antonini
WORK: Reflection and Preperation [5:06]
RECORDING: New Sounds Live at Paul Recital Hall, June 2026
SOURCE: This performance is not commercially available.
INFO: On Music and Meaning: Interpretations of the Musical Art of Ostad Elahi
ARTIST: Renaud Garcia-Fons, Claire Antonini
WORK: Struggle [7:59]
RECORDING: New Sounds Live at Paul Recital Hall, June 2026
SOURCE: This performance is not commercially available.
INFO: On Music and Meaning: Interpretations of the Musical Art of Ostad Elahi
ARTIST: Ostad Elahi
WORK: Jelo Shāhī Suite [0:40]
RECORDING: The Celestial Music of Ostad Elahi
SOURCE: Le Chant du Monde / Nour Foundation
INFO: https://ostadtanbur.com/repertoire/suites/jelo-shahi/gushe-jelo-shahi?r=65bffdb107f94d557dfc97f5
ARTIST: Renaud Garcia-Fons, Claire Antonini
WORK: Supplication [3:51]
RECORDING: New Sounds Live at Paul Recital Hall, June 2026
SOURCE: This performance is not commercially available.
INFO: On Music and Meaning: Interpretations of the Musical Art of Ostad Elahi
ARTIST: Renaud Garcia-Fons, Claire Antonini
WORK: Spiritual Pleasure [9:54]
RECORDING: New Sounds Live at Paul Recital Hall, June 2026
SOURCE: This performance is not commercially available.
INFO: On Music and Meaning: Interpretations of the Musical Art of Ostad Elahi
