UE composers from Iran

Alireza Mashayekhi is one of the pioneers of multiculturalism in music. He was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1940. Mashayekhi’s works have been performed in Iran and abroad for more than 60 years. Hanns Jelinek and Karl Schiske were his composition teachers in Vienna. After completing his studies at the Akademie fuer Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, he went to Utrecht, the Netherlands, to pursue his study of electronic and computer music. His many years of association with Hanns Jelinek encouraged him to explore a wide spectrum of 20th-century music. This and his fondness for Iranian culture were the cornerstones of his artistic development. Mashayekhi's compositions have tended towards three major directions: pieces that are directly inspired by Iranian music (e.g. Symphony No. 5), atonal compositions (e.g. Symphony No. 4) and multicultural compositions (e.g. Symphony No. 9 “My World”.)

Amin Sharifi’s works have been performed in the United States, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Russia, Canada, Poland, the Czech Republic, and his home Iran. His music was called “creative, individualistic, artistic” by the critique of Juilliard School of Music and “product of an unbridled imagination” by the Memphis Daily News. Sharifi's pieces have been performed by such new-music ensembles/orchestras as JACK Quartet, Mivos Quartet, Ostravska Banda, Hypercube, A&C String Quartet, Luna Nova, DissonArt, Duo Sequenza, Pierrot-Tehran, Breakout, the Indiana University Symphonic Band, and the Indiana Philharmonic. His music has been heard at ReMusik (2019), Ostrava Days (2019), Synthetis (2019), eviMus (2017), Tehran Contemporary Music Festival (2016, 2018, 2019), Druskomanija Festival (2018), WSU Contemporary Art Music Festival (2019), and RISUONANZE (2017, 2019). Soloists who have performed his music include Christopher Otto, Austin Wulliman, Alex Sopp, Verena Rojc, Oliver Dizdarevic, Aleksandra Demowska-Madejska, Wojtek Psiuk, and Futaba Niekawa.

Iranian contemporary composer, Amin Sharifi (b. 1993), studied Composition at the Art University of Tehran (BM) and Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (MM) under the direction of Sven-David Sandström, Nader Mashayekhi, David Dzubay, and Don Freund. He also has had lessons with such renowned composers as Chaya Czernowin, Toshio Hosokawa, Krzysztof Penderecki, Georg Friedrich Haas, Raphaël Cendo, Oscar Bianchi, Marc Sabat, Katharina Rosenberger, Bernhard Lang, Zygmunt Krauze, Christian Wolff, Vladimir Tarnopolsky, Peter Ablinger, Klaus Lang, Dai Fujikura, Frederic Rzewski, Petr Kotik, Isabel Mundry, Alvin Curran, Tansy Davies, Augusta Read Thomas, George Nussbaumer, Rolf Wallin, Alex Mincek, Kate Soper, Mehdi Hosseini, Ken Ueno, John Gibson, Nina C. Young, and Sean Shepherd.

In summer 2017, his triple concerto TrombionOphone or Riders in the Field of Hope for soprano saxophone, trombone, and accordion was the first-prize winner of the XXIII Edition of International Composition Competition Concorso 2 Agosto and was performed by the Tuscanini Philharmonic Orchestra in Piazza Maggiore in Bologna, Italy.

He also has worked as assistant conductor to Nader Mashayekhi with the Tehran Cultural Philharmonic Orchestra and has conducted the Pierrot-Tehran New Music Ensemble, both in The First Tehran Contemporary Music Festival and several recording seasons. Sharifi has also worked as the Assistant Director of the IU New Music Ensemble at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

“A Portrait of the Composer as a Young Man” (after the title of James Joyce’s first novel), an album of Amin Sharifi’s select chamber music composed from 2013 to 2016, was released by Petrichor Records in the U.S. and Arqnoon Records in Iran. The music was performed and recorded by members of the Pierrot-Tehran New Music Ensemble, Breakout Ensemble, and solo artists in Germany, the U.S., and Iran. This album could be considered the musical equivalent of Künstlerroman, German for “artist’s novel”—a narrative about a young artist’s serious explorations and growth toward artistic maturity.

Recently, “Shifting Colors on the Slant", the collection of Sharifi's solo piano music has been released worldwide. A collection of painted pieces of music, a combination of Middle Eastern musical elements and Persian architectural ideas, impressionistic atmosphere, the effect of shifting colors, as well as improvisatory and aleatoric forms are what to expect to hear in this album. Both of his albums are available physically and digitally worldwide.

Mahyar Hemati (b.1985) in Iran. He started music at the age of thirteen with self-taught playing classical guitar and learning music theory. He attended the Tehran Conservatory in 2008 in the field of composition and after graduation, continued his educations on his own, alongside some composition workshops and master classes

In 2012, he attended a classical guitar workshop in Finland (Sibelius Academy) under Dr. Jukka Savijoki and a composition workshop (focusing on spectral music) under Dr. Rakel Tikkanen. In 2016, he participated in a composition and conducting master class under Prof, Ferdinando Nazzaro in Ukraine and in 2022, he took part in a composition master class under Dr. Joseph Sowa (United States)

His first album “Najva” that included Classical Guitar’s standard repertoire was published by Mahriz Recordings in 2009. In 2015, he has recorded his second album “Goorah” which included various pieces by Iranian contemporary composers, published by “Arqanoon Records” in Iran and “Suddenly Listen” foundation in Canada. As a guest composer, he was invited to several festivals, such as Parma Music Festival in the United States in 2014 and the SNIM Music Festival in Austria in 2015. He also received commissions from a number of ensembles and performers and institutions such as: Tbilisi Opera House (Georgia) Contempora Ensemble (Macedonia) Tania Sikeliano (Greece), and others.

In 2016, he has won the second prize in the Orient/Occident International Composition Competition (Ukraine) for his piece "Voyage" for Violin and orchestra (no first prize winner was assigned). The score of Voyage also has been published by the Italian Publishing firm "Aldebaran Edition"

In 2018, His composition for String Orchestra “Requiem for the Past” has won the second prize (no first prize winner was assigned) in Musica per Archi International Composition Competition in Ukraine. In 2019, he has published his third album “Mimesis” by the Iranian-Canadian Recording label Pardis Records which included his chamber and orchestral works. In 2020, Mimesis has been selected as the best classical album by the Iran House of Music. This album also earned the first prize at the Fajr International Festival in Iran in 2021 (the Barbad Award), but the artist refused to accept the prize out of protest because it was given out by the Islamic government and so served as a tool for its propaganda. In 2022, he won the Honorable Mention award in the First Annual Wizarding School Composers Competition in England for his piece “Adynamia No. 1” for Mixed-Gender String Quartet.

H has collaborated with several ensembles and orchestra such as: Georgia Modern Ensemble, Ball State University Guitar Quartet, Budapest String Quartet, Lviv Symphonic orchestra, Tbilisi Opera Camerata, etc and conductors such as Ferdinando Nazzaro (Italy) Roman Kreslenko (Ukraine) Levan Jagaevi (Georgia) Cesare Della Sciucca (Italy) and etc. He is a member of the Composers Association of Macedonia (Socom) and Lviv Philharmonic Society and Individuals and organizations like Southern Illinois University, Marc Migó (doctorate in composition from the Julliard School of Music in New York), John Corigliano (American Pulitzer Prize winner), David Lang (American Pulitzer award winner and Oscar nominated composer), PARMA Recordings (American Grammy award nominated publication) have praised, referred to, and recommended his works as well.

I studied electroacoustic composition with Wolfgang Suppan , from 2012 to 2017, at University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (MDW), practicing with him for the most part algorithmic composition, and, thereafter, have been composing in new arrangements under Karlheinz Essl's supervision. During the latter period, for instance, I wrote a piece for organ, which Wolfgang Kogert performed at Wiener Hofburgkapelle.

Parsa Zandi, Born in 2004, Tehran.  

He studied composition with Mohammad H. Javaheri, Karen Keyhani and Armin Sanayei in Iran. He is a member of the Young Composers' Community (YCC). Parsa was accepted at University of Music and Performing Arts Graz and he is studying Composition under the supervision of Beat Furrer. He is also attending in composition classes of Franck Bedrossian, Clemens Gadenstätter and Klaus Lang.

The piece named "Lifespan of Fly" has been selected for the Fifteen-Minutes-of-fame Festival and has been played by brilliant Clarinetist "Thomas Piercy" in NYC. The Piece named "My Heards" for Solo Vibraphone has been selected for the Vibraphone Project and the Score will be published in USA soon. 

Parsa won 3 prizes in the International composition competition "Donne in Musica 2021". 1st prize in chamber music for "Mourning", 2nd prize in solo for "Persian Musketeers" for Clarinet and Laureate prize for Piano Solo No.1. Also the Piece "Persian Musketeers" won 2nd prize of Solo Pieces in "MeastrosVision Awards" International Composition Competition 2022. Parsa won a honorable Mention at the "Rodrigo Landa-Romero International Composition Competition 2022"

His first Large ensemble piece "MÁRD" for 10 Instruments has been performed on 29th June 2022 in Graz.

Also 2 of solo pieces by him, "Persian Musketeers" for Clarinet Solo and "My heards" for Vibraphone Solo have been premiered on 4th July 2022 in Graz.

Parsa was invited as one of the artists/composers in Open Call Nodus 2022. Residencia artística en Les Coves de Vinromà (Castelló) for one week residancy and he worked on his piece for Baritone Saxophone, Vibraphone and small percussions with David Moliner and Carlos Tena.

He won the 2nd prize of 4th International Composition Competition New Music Generation in Kazakhistan

Parsa is one of the 5 selected composers for the ICCS Young talents program 2023 in Frankfurt to work with Ensemble Modern under the baton of Bas Wiegers.

Soheil Salimzadeh is a composer, violinist, and conductor celebrated for his ability to seamlessly merge classical, oriental, and folk traditions in his music. Born in 1991 in Tehran, Iran, he developed an early passion for music, beginning with the guitar at age 13 before transitioning to the violin at 15. A self-taught musician, Soheil honed his skills through workshops with esteemed figures such as Shahrdad Rohani and Ahmad Pejman. His works, such as "Tabarestan Rhapsody" and "Elegy", have garnered international recognition, including awards at festivals like Re-Create in South Korea and Talla Rouge's competition. Founder of the Novano Orchestra, he has arranged many compositions into orchestral pieces performed globally, both as a soloist and with orchestras. Residing in Germany, Soheil's diverse portfolio spans classical, cinematic, and jazz genres, with a focus on cultural storytelling and innovative soundscapes that captivate global audiences.