Join us for a celebration of Iranian female composers’ solo works, performed by talented Iranian women in the diaspora. This online concert will be followed by a zoom reception. Flourishing Moments It’s a co-presentation of Himeh Cultural House and Emruz Festival featuring the following pieces and artists:
The voice- Performer Saba Yousefi , Composer: Atefeh Einali
A Sketch- Performer: Anoush Taba’i, Composer: Mercedeh Gholami
Veiled - Performer: Kimia Hesabi, Composer: Niloufar Nourbakhsh
Looking For You - Performer: Taraneh Pouryousef, Composer: Shabnam Amiri
Running out of mind- Performer: Niloufar Sohi, Composer: Zola Saadi-Klein
Composers:
Atefeh Einali
https://www.atefeheinali.com/
Atefeh Einali currently resides in Manchester, UK. She has completed her master’s degree in composition at the University of Manchester. As graduate of the Art University of Tehran, she is also an active Santoor player and she has performed in the UK, Netherlands and Iran. Recently, she finished her piece in the Composing for Sitar scheme in Psappha. Currently, she is selected by international Guitar foundation (IGF) to write a piece for solo Guitar.
Also, she was one of the winners in SIMF (ACIMIC= The Association of Iranian Contemporary Music Composers) competition in France in November 2018. Moreover, her pieces have been performed by Jae-Won in Zutphen, the Netherlands in Bach festival, Alternance Ensemble in France, Trio Atem ensemble, Danel quartet and Eskandari quartet and Psappha ensemble at the University of Manchester. In addition, one of her pieces (The voice) has been published in volume 23 of Women and music: A Journal of Gender and Culture (WAM Journal), the USA. Now, a unique collaboration (Avazad fusion ensemble) is formed by her and Eliorah Goodman in Manchester. She has performed in Avazad fusion ensemble on numerous occasions; programming a combination of traditional music alongside experimental compositions they have created themselves.
Mercedeh Gholami
Mercedeh is an Iranian composer and Setar player born and raised in Tehran.
She first encountered music at the age of nine, playing Setar (an Iranian chordophone played by plucking the strings with a finger) and learning the fundamentals of Iranian music with Mohammad-Reza Bayat. In 2012, she entered Tehran University of Art, College of Music, and received her bachelor’s degree in composition with the final project “Passacaglia for Orchestra” in 2016. She has studied composition with Karen Keyhani and Mohammad Reza Tafazzoli, as well as participating in the "International Summer Academy of mdw" under the supervision of Yann Robin. Inspired by Iranian classical music, ingrained in her since childhood, and Contemporary music, she tries to make a connection between the two to achieve her style. Mercedeh’s pieces have been performed in isa Festival of mdw, 2nd Tehran International Contemporary Music Festival, 10th NED Ensemble Festival, 1st Alfred Schnittke International Composers’ Forum, etc.
Niloufar Nourbakhsh
Described as “stark” by WNPR and “darkly lyrical” by the New York Times, a winner of the Second International Hildegard commission award and a 2019 recipient of Opera America’s Discovery Grant, Niloufar Nourbakhsh’s music has been performed at numerous festivals and venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center. A founding member and co-director of Iranian Female Composers Association, Nourbakhsh is a strong advocate of music education and equal opportunities. She is currently a Teaching Artist at Brooklyn Music School, an adjunct faculty at Molloy College, and a co-director of Peabody Conservatory Laptop Ensemble, while finishing her doctorate at Stony Brook University.
Shabnam Amiri
Born in 1999, I have started learning music with the instrument Daf when I was 11 and then learning Settar and Piano. I am a composer student and I am learning improvisation with Negin Zomorodi and film music with Fardin Khalaatbari
Zola Saadi-Klein
Zola Saadi-Klein is an 18-year-old composer, vocalist and violinist from Los Angeles.
She received the 2020 ASCAP Foundation Irving Berlin Scholarship Award. Zola has been a Fellow in the LA Phil Nancy and Barry Sanders Composer Fellowship Program since 2019 under the mentorship of Andrew Norman, Sarah Gibson, and Thomas Kotcheff. She studies composition with Dr. Ian Krouse, Co-Head of Composition at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music. She is also a Fellow in the 2020-2021 Luna Composition Lab, which mentors and gives performance opportunities to female-identifying, non-binary or gender non-conforming young composers. Currently, she is writing a percussion quartet under the mentorship of inspiring composer, Gity Razaz.
A senior at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA), she plays violin with the LACHSA Symphony Orchestra, string and chamber ensembles, and was part of the LACHSA Opera Company.
Zola’s piece The Vixen Hunts for solo clarinet was performed at Sunset Chamberfest in June 2020. She was selected to participate in the Walden Young Musicians Experience, where her piece for solo viola, Running Out of Mind, was premiered by Tawnya Popoff.
For inspiration, Zola enjoys hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains and painting watercolor abstractions.
Performers
Saba Yousefi
Being a passionate performer and pedagogue, Saba Yousefi graduated from University of Toronto where she received both of her Master of Violin Performance and Bachelor of Violin Performance degrees. Saba started playing Violin at the age of seven in Tehran-Iran. She attended the Tehran Conservatory of Music and graduated with a Diploma in Music. Saba had the role of Concertmaster in the Austrian Embassy Orchestra in Tehran and assistant concertmaster at the Tehran Philharmonic Orchestra. Saba won the first prize in Tehran classical music competition as a soloist. She immigrated to Canada in order to expand her Musical journey. Saba has studied with the members of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Her past teachers have included Jaques Israelievitch, Khachik Babayan, Erika Raum, and Mark Fewer. She has performed in solo and chamber music master classes for Barry Shiffman, Jonathan Crow, Andrew Wan, Timothy Ying, Yehonathan Berick, and Gryphon Trio, St. Lawrence string quartet, and the New Orford String Quartet. Saba currently is a member of the Ontario Philharmonic, and one of the Co-founders at LyreIran.
Anoush Taba’i
Iranian-born clarinetist Anoush Taba’i, graduated from University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music with Artistic Diploma in Clarinet Performance, found her own way into Western classical music. Her music studies began in Tehran with Tombak under Siamak Bana’i. After immigrating to Toronto, she picked up clarinet as her second instrument. After receiving a degree in Software Engineering, her fascination with Western music and the vast range of moods and emotions captured by it made her pursue clarinet performance as a new area of study, first under Shalom Bard, Max Christie, and later Joseph Orlowski. Over the last couple of years, Anoush has continuously work with various composers on pieces that blend Iranian and Western music. She is a founding member of Charsu Quartet. Charsu had their debut concert at Aga Khan Museum in Nov 2019.
Kimia Hesabi
Dr. Kimia Hesabi is a violist and an educator based in the Washington D.C area. An active chamber musician, Ms. Hesabi is the founder of Yasna Ensemble. This ensemble performs contemporary compositions and arrangements that are inspired by Middle Eastern classical and folk music. In her DMA dissertation project, “Viola from Iran: Continuing and Expanding the Trajectory of a Rich Cultural History,” Ms. Hesabi has performed, researched, and recorded an album of several commissioned and premiered works for viola by Iranian composers. In addition to performing, Ms. Hesabi is an active teacher and clinician in the Washington, DC metropolitan area and is currently on the string faculty at the International School of Music in Bethesda, Maryland. Recent clinics include a workshop, masterclass and performance on Iranian contemporary music at the American University, Katzen Art Center. As a new leadership team member of District New Music Coalition, Ms. Hesabi will work with DNMC to promote the performance and appreciation of contemporary music by connecting performers, composers, institutions, and audiences located in the Washington, D.C area through concerts, conferences, and active community building. Ms. Hesabi is the recipient of the prestigious Thomas Fellowship from the University of Tennessee and the Dean’s Fellowship for Academic Excellence from the University of Maryland and holds degrees from University of Tehran, Iran and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Taraneh Pouryousef
Taraneh Pouryousef, an Iranian classical flute player based in Amsterdam.
She was a quite active flute player in Iran. she has cooperated with “Iran symphony Orchestra”, “Iran National Orchestra”, “Ara Nova big band” and several other ensembles.
She has moved to Netherlands on 2017 to study music in “Prins Claus Conservatorium”.
She has her own duo for flute and piano together with her friend Greta Gutuleac called “Hofduo” and they have their own projects and concerts throughout the Netherlands.
She also cooperates with some other collectives and Orchestras in Amsterdam like “Marmoucha Collective”.
Niloofar Sohi
Niloofar Sohi is an Iranian musician who started her music career at the age of 8 and was enrolled in music school by the age of 12. She plays the Viola and has studied with great teachers of Iranian and American backgrounds, such as Korey Konkol, Setareh Beheshti, and Taha Abedian. She ranked first among all students while studying music and performance at Tehran University. She also distinguished as an Elite student in National Elite Foundation and won the first award of the University to continue her studies for a master’s degree in Performing Arts. Niloofar is now studying DMA viola performance at the University of Minnesota.
Niloofar has the experience of working with various American and Iranian orchestras. She has been part of international projects such as Le Vie Dell’Amicizia Ravenna-Tehran with Riccardo Muti (Italy), Internava Ensembles (Europe and Iran), and FeminEast festivals’ concerts (Sweden). She is a former violist of the Shahrzad Ensemble, and she has worked with great Iranian musicians such as Homayoun Shajarian, Pournazeri Brothers, and Houshyar Khayam.
She is also an award winner of the National Youth Music Festival and Fajr festivals and has performed in many concerts in Asia, Europe, and The United States.
Niloofar has also recorded different CD’s such as “The Other Side” by Houshyar Khayam, “Unspoken Grievances” by Amin Honarmand; and worked with numerous composers for recording projects like Peyman Yazdanian, Bardia Kiaras, and conductors, Shahrdad Rohani, Nasir Heydarian, Riccardo Muti and Mark Stevenson, Mark Russel Smith, and Osmo Vänskä.