Alireza Mashayekhi


Alireza Mashayekhi is an Iranian musician, composer and conductor. He is one of the first composers representing avant-garde, modern and contemporary music written by a composer in Iran. He is also a pioneer of electroacoustic music in Iran.

Early life

Mashayekhi was born in Tehran in 1940. 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.

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, which released its first recording in 2002 on Hermes Records.
In 2007, Sub Rosa released , a double-disc anthology that includes works by Mashayekhi and Ata Ebtekar. 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," referring to the sonic multiplicities present in his work that unify within a single musical piece.

Works

Albums

Tehran Symphony Orchestra, Farhad Meshkat cond., live at Vahdat Hall, Tehran, Mar. 1977
Tehran Symphony, Edo Mičič cond., Maziar Zahiroddini violin, live at Vahdat Hall, Tehran, Oct. 1998
NIRT Chamber Orchestra, Ivo Malec cond., Pari Barkeshli pianos, live at City Theatre Tehran, Tehran, Apr. 1978