The Octave 9 Series Continues with Composing Iran

By Leilani Polk

The third concert in our Octave 9 Series, Composing Iran, showcases the talents of the Iranian Female Composers Association (IFCA), a group of artists who have combined their experiences and creativity to provide a platform for otherwise unheard musical voices from inside Iran and the Iranian diaspora, and to build and support a growing community of female and nonbinary identifying composers.  

This special multi-genre collaboration, curated in partnership with Seattle Symphony Clarinet Eric Jacobs, features Jacobs along with other Seattle Symphony musicians (Principal Harp Valerie Muzzolini, Assistant Principal Cello Nathan Chan, Assistant Principal String Bass Will Langlie Miletich and Violin Brittany Breeden), and celebrates the world premiere of a multimedia audio-visual piece, 35.710147,51.398923, by Zerone Duo (Deniz Tafaghodi and Farbod Maeen) specifically crafted for Octave 9: Raisbeck Music Center. Toronto-based interdisciplinary composer, pianist and sound artist Tafaghodi began playing classical piano at 6, eventually earning a music degree from the Art & Architecture University of Tehran. Since 2016, Tafaghodi has collaborated with a range of different artists and engaged in various mediums, including live electro-acoustic/audiovisual performances, sound installations, sound design for theaters, contemporary dance performances and computer games. Since 2018, she has been part of Tehran's Zerone Duo collective as a sound artist, working on interdisciplinary projects. 

Other compositions that will be performed include Soosan Lolavar’s Mâh Didam (I Saw the Moon), which she says explores the link between Iranian music and Renaissance Counterpoint, with words from a poem by Rahi Mo’ayeri that translates to “I saw the moon, it reminded me of your beautiful face”; and selections from Aida Shirazi’s Soliloquy of the Unnamed, a collection of miniatures for voice and violin in response to Leo Tolstoy’s novella, The Kreutzer Sonata. Both feature performances by guest soprano Diana Newman. Also on the program are Niloufar Nourbakhsh’s Veiled, in which the composer transforms her anger about the culture of the hijab into “a tribute to Iranian women who made such transformations possible,” and Mojgan Misaghi’s 3 Miniatures for Bowless Violin, which was composed after her right hand was injured in a domestic violence incident; her miniatures were created to be played without the bow, take inspiration from three medieval Persian poems translated into English and are dedicated “to all Iranian women and their ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement.”  

Performances happen on Friday, November 22, at 7 and 9pm, in Octave 9: Raisbeck Music Center at Benaroya Hall.