“Listen to the reeds as they sway apart;/Hear them speak of lost friends. . . . /We are all the same, all the same, /Longing to find our way back;/Back to the one, back to the only one.”  —Rumi

Led by Oscar-winning Israeli composer Yuval Ron, and featuring his ensemble of outstanding Jewish, Christian, and Arab musicians, the Yuval Ron Ensemble presents a concert of ecstatic music, poetry, and dance from the mystical Sufi tradition.  The concert will feature the magnificent vocals of Najwa Gibran—acknowledged as one of the finest female Arabic singers living in the West—and special guest Sukhawat Ali Khan, a master qawwali (devotional) singer from Pakistan.  Dervish Aziz, a member of the Mevlana Sufi order, makes a special appearance performing the trance-inducing whirling dance of the dervishes of Konya. Dedicated to building bridges of harmony and reconciliation, and underscoring the common humanity that unites us all, this concert will resound with the echoes of paradise - that place where we remember that we are all one.
Performers include Yeghish Manukyan, Virginie Alumian, Jamie Papish and David Martinelli

” This concert is presented in association with the exhibition A Blessing to One Another: Pope John Paul II and the Jewish People, on view at the Skirball Cultural Center September 12, 2008–January 4, 2009. “