Alireza Mashayekhi is an Iranian musician, composer, conductor and academic. He is one of the first composers in Iran to represent avant-garde, modern and contemporary music. He is a pioneer of electroacoustic music in Iran.[1]

Alireza Mashayekhi
Alireza Mashayekhi at the 30th Fajr International Music Festival, 19 February 2015
Background information
Born	Tehran
Genres	Contemporary classical music Persian symphonic music
Occupation(s)	Musician, conductor, composer
Website	www.alirezamashayekhi.com

Early life

Mashayekhi was born in Tehran in 1940.[2] After graduating from the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, he went to Utrecht, the Netherlands, to study electronic and computer music, and attended lectures by Gottfried Michael Koenig.[1]

Career

In 1993, with cooperation of the pianist Farima Ghavam-Sadri, Mashayekhi founded the Tehran Contemporary Music Group. In 1995 he established the Iranian Orchestra for New Music,[3] which released its first recording in 2002 on Hermes Records.

In 2007, Sub Rosa (label) released Persian Electronic Music: Yesterday and Today 1966–2006, a double-disc anthology that includes works by Mashayekhi and Ata Ebtekar.[4] In 2009, Brandon Nickell’s Isounderscore label released the vinyl double LP Ata Ebtekar & The Iranian Orchestra for New Music Performing Works of Alireza Mashayekhi "Ornamental". Mashayekhi granted Ebtekar full creative freedom to work with the Iranian Orchestra for New Music to arrange and transform his compositions.

Musical language

Mashayekhi's music circulates between a range of styles and genres, from classical compositions inspired by Persian rhythms and Iranian folk music that incorporate meditated repetition and polyphony, to atonal compositions, to works for tape and live electronics that combine traditional Iranian and Western instruments. Mashayekhi calls his compositional practice "Meta-X,"[5] referring to the sonic multiplicities present in his work (as contradictions of tonal/atonal, improvised/pre-defined, Persian/non-Persian)[6] that unify within a single musical piece.

Works

Albums

• Mahoor Institute of Culture and Art, CD-145
  • Symphony No. 2 "Tehran", Op. 57
    Tehran Symphony Orchestra, Farhad Meshkat cond., live at Vahdat Hall, Tehran, Mar. 1977
  • Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, op. 96
    Tehran Symphony, Edo Mičič cond., Maziar Zahiroddini violin, live at Vahdat Hall, Tehran, Oct. 1998
  • "Nous ne verrons jamais les jardins de Nishapour", Op. 56
    NIRT Chamber Orchestra, Ivo Malec cond., Pari Barkeshli pianos, live at City Theatre Tehran, Tehran, Apr. 1978
• Shahrzad: Nine Movements for Piano, Op. 115
  • Piano by Farimah Ghavamsadri[7]
• An Old Fashioned Symphony for Computer (Symphony No. 3), Op. 76[8]
• Symphony No. 4 (Zagros), Op. 103
  • National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, conducted by Vladimir Sirenko[9]
• Symphony No. 5 (Persian), Op. 112
  • National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, conducted by Vladimir Sirenko[10]

• Symphony No. 8 for Piano and Orchestra
  • Piano: Farimah Ghavamsadri; National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, conducted by Vladimir Sirenko
• Music for Piano
  • Piano: Farimah Ghavamsadri[11]
• Happy Electronic Sounds[12]

• Ravi-Azar-Kimia music Institute
  • White Cactus

Books

• Modal Counterpoint
• Tonal Counterpoint: Bach Composition
• Harmony: Classical Composition
• All Those Years without Memory

See also

• Iranian Orchestra for New Music
• University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alireza Mashayekhi.