Composer Milad Yousufi, abruptly exiled in America “with a backpack and a hundred dollars.”
For decades, the Terezin Music Foundation—founded by former Boston Symphony Orchestra violist Mark Ludwig—has kept alive the work of composers and artists lost in the Holocaust. Each year, musicians and dignitaries have gathered in Symphony Hall for a gala to help the cause.
This year’s celebration—on November 9—will be a virtual affair, like all performances these days. Pianist Garrick Ohlsson and former secretary of state Madeleine Albright headline the event.
The gala also welcomes back composer Milad Yousufi, a 25-year-old Afghani forced into exile from his home. Yousufi composed a string quartet, “Refuge,” for the 2018 gala, and this year contributes a chamber setting of a Rumi poem, “In Search of Home.”
From his home in New York City, where he continues his composition studies at Brooklyn College, Yousufi’s thoughts about “In Search of Home,” and being an exile in America, brought his own perspective to the international shut-down of the performing arts.
Compared to most young Afghani musicians, Yousufi was blessed. The Taliban harshly banned all instrumental music in the country from 1996–2001; musicians were killed, and instruments and recordings destroyed. When he was very young, Yousufi drew a piano keyboard on paper, and practiced silently.
But in 2010 the Afghan Nation Institute of Music was formed. Small but influential, with international backing, ANIM helped Yousufi enter piano competitions, and travel with its youth orchestra on world tours.
It was during the third of these tours, in 2015, that Yousufi learned suddenly that he could not return to his home in Kabul. It had become too dangerous, he was warned, his life was in danger, and he was abruptly exiled, in America “with a backpack and a hundred dollars,” he says.
His artistic energy—Yousufi plays piano, composes, paints, creates calligraphy, and writes poetry—remained unimpeded.
He found a mentor in pianist Simone Dinnerstein, who helped him win a rare refugee scholarship to Mannes College of Music. Yousufi he finished a degree there in May. Dinnerstein also introduced him to many musical colleagues, and Yousufi has had his works performed not only at Terezin galas but by ensembles like Kronos Quartet and organizations like Music Worcester.
Although his family has since moved to India—for safety—and he speaks with them weekly, Yousufi is still driven to have a musical impact for his homeland. “I have a dream to make a difference,” he says, “writing the first symphonies of my country.
“I believe music is a universal language,” he says. “Mozart, the great composers, are heard all over the world. I’d like to be treated the same way.
“My music is inspired by my heritage, by folk music and elements of Indian music,” he says. “I tell people I’m a professional western classical pianist, but I specialize in Afghan music and music of Asia.”
“Family,” by Milad Yousufi, painted to accompany “In Search of Home,” his commission for the Terezin Music Foundation gala. ““It’s a composite of my family members: eyes from my grandmother, aspects from my sisters,”
If the composer/artist/pianist/calligrapher/student weren’t active enough, he’s engaged in a long-term project to transcribe his country’s folk music. He’s found resources: in the 1950s, ethnomusicologists traveled to Afghanistan and recorded locally in most of the provinces. “I have a teacher at Mannes who introduced me to these recordings,” he says. “It’s a great archive, and I’m transcribing the whole thing. First for piano, and then for other groups.
“It should be 12 volumes,” he says of the massive goal of the project, “and I started working on the first volume four years ago. It won’t be done until after I graduate.”
“In Search of Home,” his gala commission, sets a nostalgic poem by Rumi for tenor (Francis Rogers) and small ensemble. Yousufi describes the work as an extended series of modulations from key to key, shifting to capture the poem’s sense of sadness and determination. Alto sax (Philipp Stäudlin) takes on the musical persona of the “reed flute” in the poem, and the lyrics speak of separation, and resolution. It culminates with the tenor rising to falsetto voice—“creating a sense of crying, a sense of grief,” Yousufi says.
Given Covid precautions, Yousufi has not been able to participate in rehearsals. “I saw a picture of them rehearsing,” he says. “It give me a sense of joy to see what the musicians do. I totally submit to the performers’ ideas.”
He’s painted a portrait, “Family,” to accompany the song setting, and add a visual reminder of what he has left behind. “It’s a composite of my family members: eyes from my grandmother, aspects from my sisters,” he says of the image.
Yousufi is protected from the immediate dangers of the Taliban, but still lives with uncertainty. He’s safe now, studying, composing, creating. But American politics brings its own sense of unease, and even this refuge remains precarious.
“I’m here seeking asylum,” he says. “My friends help me with support, and I’ve applied for a visa. But under the current administration, I haven’t heard anything.”
Keith Powers covers music and the arts for Gannett New England, Opera News and Leonore Overture. Follow @PowersKeith; email to keithmichaelpowers@gmail.com.