Saeed Mirzazadeh

I am a composer, tar player and music teacher, born in Tehran in 1979. I graduated in Composition from the Conservatorio di Milano under the supervision of Maestro Mario Garuti, having also studied with Farshid Samandari and Giorgio Tedde, and attended masterclasses with remarkable composers such as Claudio Ambrosini, Marco Stroppa and Frédéric Durieux.

My musical life bridges two rich traditions. Since 1997 I have been deeply immersed in Persian classical music, learning to play tar and studying the Persian musical repertoire (Radif) in the class of the prominent master Mohammadreza Lotfi, as well as with renowned musicians and tar teachers including Sahba Motallebi, Fariborz Azizi and Behrouz Hemmati, and having participated in the masterclasses of Master Hossein Alizadeh. In my compositional work I bring these two worlds into dialogue — drawing on the melodic modes, timbres and expressive depth of Persian music and weaving them with contemporary Western compositional techniques to forge a personal sound that belongs fully to neither tradition alone, yet is enriched by both.

I have performed as soloist and in music ensembles in Iran, Europe and North America, and my work has been broadcast on RAI Radio 3. In 2024 my composition Mirage received its world premiere with the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra at the Tongyeong International Music Festival in Korea and the Taiwan Traditional Arts Festival in Taipei. I have been invited as a composer and performer to festivals including the Global Soundscapes Festival in Vancouver (2018) and the New Made Week — SIAE Classici di Oggi in Lovere (2015). Over the years I have also led workshops and seminars on Persian music at institutions including the University of Milan and the Entroterre Festival.

I am the founder and artistic director of the Sarir Ensemble in Tehran and the co-founder of the Neshat Duo in Milan.

I am a blind musician — and it is precisely this experience that has sharpened my ear, deepened my listening, and shaped a teaching approach centred entirely on sound, sensitivity and musical intuition.

Teaching

Since 2000 I have been teaching privately and in group settings, both in person and online, across three subjects:

• Tar — the Persian long-necked lute, taught within the classical Persian music tradition.
• ABRSM Music Theory & Aural Training — following the full ABRSM syllabus, from foundational to advanced levels.
• Persian Music — a course in the structure of the Persian classical system, with a focus on the Dastgah — the modal frameworks at the heart of this tradition — developed through listening and vocal practice.

Since 2016 I also serve as lecturer of the course Introduction to Persian Music at the BIHE — Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education.

Selected Works

• Solook, in dastgah-e Nava — album for voice and Persian ensemble
• Ey Kash — for voice and Persian ensemble, on a text by Ahmad Shamloo
• Lightscape — for clarinet, accordion and cello
• Magma — for piano
• As tar soloist: Someone Out There Is Praying for Peace by Rita Ueda — Stradivarius Italia Dischi

Awards & Recognition

• Special mention — Fondazione Maurice Ravel, Italy (2015)
• Merit prize — Fondazione Valentino Bucchi, Italy (2012)
• First prize — Festival Behzisti, Tehran (2008)
• Selected performer — Festival del Tar, Tehran (2003)