A clip from Tradition-Hybrid-Survival, concerto for cello and string ensemble performed by soloist Thibault Blanchard-Dubois and conducted by Gregory Rose.

Tradition-Hybrid-Survival [clip]

Black Dog was written for award-winning pianist Ben Socrates and won first prize in the 2012 John Halford Prize for piano and composition judged by Ian Pace.

The piece is based on the experience of depression and its effects on creativity. There is a long history of using the term black dog to refer to depression and my starting point for this work was a painting by Francisco de Goya entitled ‘The Dog’. This work was painted on the walls of his house sometime between 1819 and 1823 while he was suffering from severe depression. The works created during this period are often collectively referred to as his black paintings. Black Dog features solo piano and electronics triggered live according to the sound level produced by the instrument.

Black Dog

This is the 2nd movement of a larger, 5-movement piece entitled Only Sound Remains.

Only Sound Remains is inspired by the works of two contemporary Iranian female poets. It takes its title and lyrical content from the 1966 poem ‘It is Only Sound that Remains’ by Forough Farrokhzad (1935-1967) and the title of each of the five movements from the 1967 poem ‘Wild Mountain Plant’ by Jaleh Esfahani (1921-2007).

Only Sound Remains combines elements of both Iranian and Western classical music in order to explore new musical territory for both traditions. It is also a very personal reflection on both my experiences as part of Stay Close (www.staycloseproject.com) and my own British-Iranian heritage. I have been deeply inspired by my work with musicians in Iran and members of the Farsi- speaking community in the UK. Through these two research phases I have discovered a form of creativity in both Iran and the UK that freely combines Iranian and Western musical ideas as well as taking traditional forms and updating them in the context of a contemporary work.

On a personal level, Stay Close was born as part of a wider process of rebuilding my relationship with Iran, through which the composing process stands as a tool for asking and answering questions about my Iranian identity. This practice-as-self- exploration process has been enlightening and will no doubt extend far beyond the culmination of this project.

Only Sound Remains: II. The Coldness of the Rough Rocks

This is the 3rd movement of a larger, 5-movement piece entitled Only Sound Remains.

Only Sound Remains is inspired by the works of two contemporary Iranian female poets. It takes its title and lyrical content from the 1966 poem ‘It is Only Sound that Remains’ by Forough Farrokhzad (1935-1967) and the title of each of the five movements from the 1967 poem ‘Wild Mountain Plant’ by Jaleh Esfahani (1921-2007).

Only Sound Remains combines elements of both Iranian and Western classical music in order to explore new musical territory for both traditions. It is also a very personal reflection on both my experiences as part of Stay Close (www.staycloseproject.com) and my own British-Iranian heritage. I have been deeply inspired by my work with musicians in Iran and members of the Farsi- speaking community in the UK. Through these two research phases I have discovered a form of creativity in both Iran and the UK that freely combines Iranian and Western musical ideas as well as taking traditional forms and updating them in the context of a contemporary work.

On a personal level, Stay Close was born as part of a wider process of rebuilding my relationship with Iran, through which the composing process stands as a tool for asking and answering questions about my Iranian identity. This practice-as-self- exploration process has been enlightening and will no doubt extend far beyond the culmination of this project.

Only Sound Remains: III. My Birthplace is the Mountain

This is the 5th movement of a larger, 5-movement piece entitled Only Sound Remains.

Only Sound Remains is inspired by the works of two contemporary Iranian female poets. It takes its title and lyrical content from the 1966 poem ‘It is Only Sound that Remains’ by Forough Farrokhzad (1935-1967) and the title of each of the five movements from the 1967 poem ‘Wild Mountain Plant’ by Jaleh Esfahani (1921-2007).

Only Sound Remains combines elements of both Iranian and Western classical music in order to explore new musical territory for both traditions. It is also a very personal reflection on both my experiences as part of Stay Close (www.staycloseproject.com) and my own British-Iranian heritage. I have been deeply inspired by my work with musicians in Iran and members of the Farsi- speaking community in the UK. Through these two research phases I have discovered a form of creativity in both Iran and the UK that freely combines Iranian and Western musical ideas as well as taking traditional forms and updating them in the context of a contemporary work.

On a personal level, Stay Close was born as part of a wider process of rebuilding my relationship with Iran, through which the composing process stands as a tool for asking and answering questions about my Iranian identity. This practice-as-self- exploration process has been enlightening and will no doubt extend far beyond the culmination of this project.

Only Sound Remains: V. Do not make me Weep

This is the 1st movement of a larger, 5-movement piece entitled Only Sound Remains. 

Only Sound Remains is inspired by the works of two contemporary Iranian female poets. It takes its title and lyrical content from the 1966 poem ‘It is Only Sound that Remains’ by Forough Farrokhzad (1935-1967) and the title of each of the five movements from the 1967 poem ‘Wild Mountain Plant’ by Jaleh Esfahani (1921-2007).

Only Sound Remains combines elements of both Iranian and Western classical music in order to explore new musical territory for both traditions. It is also a very personal reflection on both my experiences as part of Stay Close (www.staycloseproject.com) and my own British-Iranian heritage. I have been deeply inspired by my work with musicians in Iran and members of the Farsi- speaking community in the UK. Through these two research phases I have discovered a form of creativity in both Iran and the UK that freely combines Iranian and Western musical ideas as well as taking traditional forms and updating them in the context of a contemporary work.

On a personal level, Stay Close was born as part of a wider process of rebuilding my relationship with Iran, through which the composing process stands as a tool for asking and answering questions about my Iranian identity. This practice-as-self- exploration process has been enlightening and will no doubt extend far beyond the culmination of this project.

Only Sound Remains: I. I am a Wild Mountain Plant

The World Is The Active String

The World is the Active String clip 1

The World is the Active String clip 2

Zang-e Rangi clip

For Cello, Bass Clarinet and tape, written for members of the London Sinfonietta as part of their Spectrum of Sound Series and performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Protect Me From What I want is concerned with textural fluctuations in sound, which are brought to life through subtly transforming repetition within the confines of limited musical material. This piece attempts to answer the question: how much can you delete, strip away and withhold from a piece of music while still retaining a distinct essence at its centre? How little can you say and still say something? The piece is based on the harmonic series of G2 and takes its title from the light installation of the same name by American conceptual artist Jenny Holzer.

Protect Me From What I Want

For organ and string ensemble, this work was commissioned by Reading Borough Council to mark the 150th anniversary of the Father Willis organ. 

It was premiered at Reading Town Hall on 4th October 2014 and performed by organist William Whitehead alongside strings from Berkshire Maestros youth music service and members of Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

A play on the term ‘coloured beat’ in Farsi, Zang-e Rangi captures the essence of the piece in both its meaning and onomatopoeia. That is, the work is characterised by a gradual investigation of tone colour through gently pulsating rhythmic movement. 

The piece uses little harmonic variety and rejects melody in favour of slowly layering blocks of rhythmic material to produce an increasingly dense textural environment. Throughout this process, the string ensemble is encouraged to think of itself as a single organism that gradually mutates, and in so doing explores new sonic environments. Thus, Zang-e Rangi encourages an ensemble of young players to truly listen to the sound they make as a group with the aim of stretching them beyond atomistic playing.

Zang-e Rangi

String quartet in two movements (2016), performed by the Carpe Diem Quartet.

Manic

A piece for Pierrot Ensemble written as part of the Norfolk New Music workshop in Connecticut 2016. It uses the Iranian folk song 'Dokhtare Boyer Ahmadi' as its basis.

Girl

Concerto for cello and string ensemble, performed by Trinity Laban Contemporary Music Group, conducted by Gregory Rose and with soloist Thibault Blanchard-Dubois

Tradition-Hybrid-Survival

Golha

I'm a British-Iranian composer working broadly in contemporary classical music.

Soosanlolavar

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