Museum celebrates exhibition’s final month with Persian events

An acclaimed exhibition of Persian manuscripts at Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum is marking its last full month on display with a host of public events. Presenting a spectacular range of richly illustrated miniature paintings inspired by the 1000 year-old poem the Shahnameh, or 'Book of Kings', Epic of the Persian Kings: The Art of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh has received over 21,000 visitors since its opening in September. Next week on Thursday 9 December the Fitzwilliam will be hosting author and journalist Azadeh Moaveni for a lively discussion of the Shahnameh's significance for today's Iranians and the country's modern identity. Moaveni, who has written for Times and the Guardian, is the author of Honeymoon in Tehran, her account of life in the city. On 11 December the Museum hosts a performance by internationally acclaimed composer and pianist Tara Kamangar. The last of the Museum's popular concert series showcasing Persian music to complement the exhibition Epic of the Persian Kings, this concert will present compositions for piano inspired by the Shahnameh. California native Kamangar has been praised as a "huge talent" (Evening Standard) and a "world class-musician who excels at blending the best of Western and Middle-Eastern compositions" (Gulf News), and this exclusive performance in the galleries of the Museum is her final date on her four-week tour of Europe.