Zaq is an artist of many mediums, originally from Philadelphia, who is making waves in the New York City music, art, and alternative-performance scenes. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Ithaca College in Composition and Voice and often jokes about having ‘half a Masters’ from Boston University.
As composer, Zaq has had pieces performed in New York City; Brunswick and Waterville, Maine; Saratoga Springs and Ithaca, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and St. Petersburg, Russia. Zaq’s sound is genre-bending and unique, combining his love of metal, alternative rock, and Indian Hindustani music with his Western-Classical training. He makes music for the sake of music; for the excitement of discovering, exploring and organizing sound; and for the joy it brings audiences. Most recently, he collaborated with YouTube personality, “The Cello Doll” on a mutli-commision project entitled dollHauz: four non-piano trios for violin and cello. The collection will be performed in its entirety and recorded in New York City summer of 2020.
Zaq will be completing his Master of Arts degree from Colorado State University this coming August.
grasping inFINity take sits name from the phenomenal Ada Limónpoem, The Noisiness of Sleep. The first stanza reads as follows…
Careful of what I carry
In my head and in my hollow
I’ve been a long time worried about grasping infinity
and coaxing some calm
out of the softest part
of the pins and needles
of me.
Even now as I cite this stanza I have tears in my eyes— this is my favorite poem I have ever heard. This idea of forever grasping for something just out of reach, or grasping for the everything that is all around us, clung to me and loosely inspired the composition of this piece, not in terms of programaticism but in ideal, in feeling. The repeating parts are never exactly the same upon their return; there is something always dynamic, shifting, and evolving within this music.
Originally written for the Sigma Alpha Iota Piano Composition Competition in 2018, this piece has remained in my performance repertoire and is one of the few pieces of my own I can [attempt to] play. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, and thank you for listening.
