Reflections of Persian classical music

Story

Born in 1984 in Tehran, Sanaz is an accomplished tār player, composer and teacher. A graduate of the Tehran Conservatory of Music, she obtained a master’s degree in ‘Interpretation of Iranian Instruments’ at Tehran University of the Arts in 2010.
She has benefited from the teachings of eminent masters such as Mohammad-Reza Lotfi, Houshang Zarif and Dariush Talai.
Sanaz has collaborated with various ensembles in Iran and abroad, including Neyriz under the direction of Maliheh Saeidi, Khorshid under the direction of Madjid Derakhshani, Banovan-e Sheyda under the direction of M-Reza Lotfi, and Ân, which she co-founded.
The Ân ensemble’s next album is dedicated to her compositions and will be released in 2025.

Hossein Rad

Vocals, dârayeh, tombak

Hossein Rad is a Geneva-based musician and music producer, born in Tehran. He began learning music with his father at an early age, and he has constantly sought to further his musical knowledge of the vocal and instrumental repertoires of Iranian classical music since, with important maestros such as Ali Bayâni, Djamchid Chemirani, Hamid-Reza Khalatbari, as well as western vocal technics with Muriel Ferraro.  His interests reaching far and wide, he has devoted considerable attention to the different traditional repertoires of the region, namely those of Central Asia which he approached under guidance of Jean During. Hossein is the founder of Horan Sounds, a non-profit music agency which supports Iran-based musicians and promotes their projects abroad.

Oud

Yasamin Shahhosseini, a native of Tehran, has distinguished herself as a leading young master of the oud, for which she was awarded with a prestigious Aga Khan Music Award in 2022. Highly regarded for her work with a variety of innovative ensembles as well as for her solo compositions and improvisations, her live performances and recordings shine both for their technical finesse and for the thoughtful way that she incorporates traditional material into a fresh and original musical language. Yasamin published an acclaimed oud solo album, Gahan, released in Tehran in 2015, and has become since 2020 a close musical accomplice of major international artists Ross Daly and Keyhan Kalhor.

An early prodigy of the kamâncheh, Sina Danesh won first prize at the Fajr International Music Festival youth competition at age 12 only. He first started learning music with Moussa Mohammadi, later completed his training under Ahmad Mohsenpour, and went on to study at the Tehran University of Arts, where he graduated in Iranian music performance. A member of the ensemble “Sheyda” of the legendary Mohammad Reza Lotfi from back in 2008, he is also the founder of the Ân ensemble, and regularly performs his kamâncheh for high end productions.

Oud player and composer, Ava Arresazan began learning music as a child with her mother, Azar Zargarian. A little later, she continued her oud training with Ehsan Emami and at the age of 18 she entered the School of Fine Arts (University of Tehran) to study Iranian music. At the same time, she began her professional career performing at the Niavaran Hall with the group Shahrazad. During this time, she was taught by Negar Boban, Dariush Talai and Yordal Tokjan, and won first prize in the 11th National Festival of Youth on oud. Immediately after graduating, she began a Master’s degree in composition, focusing on contemporary Western music, at the same university. During this period, she began collaborating with the ” Aan ” and “Noroud” ensembles, with whom she recorded two albums: “Aftab Roshan” and “Noroud”.