BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — It’s a seemingly simple approach to one of the modern world’s most vexing political problems: By marrying the lutes of the East with violas of the West, composer Hafez Nazeri says he wants to create harmony between the U. S. and his native Iran.

Nazeri’s troupe of musicians, the Rumi Symphony Project, premiered his symphony in Los Angeles last month and will perform it Saturday in Carnegie Hall. “Look at us, people who come together from different cultures, different musical backgrounds, and we all create love together, for you, for the world,” Nazeri says.

His father, Shahram Nazeri, known as Iran’s Pavarotti, is scheduled to perform “Cycle One: Rites of Fall” alongside his son and classical musicians from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Western-style pop music is banned under Islamic rule. But blending cultures in music is now natural to Hafez Nazeri, 30, who moved to the U. S. 10 years ago. Hafez and his father are among the few artists allowed to travel freely and perform and record music inside Iran.

Shahram Nazeri’s music has escaped harsh censorship, in part because he sings the poetry of Iran’s great poets to traditional music.

The premiere performance of the new fusion symphony in Los Angeles earned standing ovations from an audience of mostly Iranian expatriates.