Tora’dan, a music ensemble from Boise, will perform at the Monastery of St. Gertrude at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4. The performance is free thanks to support from the Idaho Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Tora’dan has played widely in the Boise area, including the Treefort Music Festival. The ensemble features Jan and Tovas Porvas, who married in 2006 and have performed together around the world ever since. For more than a decade, the duo has been united in their mutual love for music.
Jan was born into an entire family of musicians in the city of Tabriz, one of Iran’s premier cultural centers. He started his musical career playing traditional Iranian rhythmic instruments like the nagara and the keyboard. In his 20’s, Jan learned to play the tanbour, kopuz and daf. Tovas was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, and began playing music at just six years old. She sang and performed in many festivals in Baku, often placing among the top three young performers.
Tovas is a poet and Jan is a composer. They are music instructors and are recipients of an Idaho Commission on the Arts apprenticeship grant. They arrived in the U.S. and Boise in the summer of 2016 with their young daughter. Today they aim to share songs of devotion from their cultures and keep their traditions thriving through the arts.
For Sunday’s performance, Jan and Tovas will be joined by percussionist Grant Green. Refreshments will be served following the concert. This free performance takes place at the Monastery of St. Gertrude, 465 Keuterville Road, Cottonwood, Idaho. For more information, call 208-962-5065 or email creative@stgertrudes.org.
