Aida Shirazi & Niloufar Shiri

Aida Shirazi — Composer & Live Electronics

Born and raised in Tehran, Iran, Aida Shirazi s a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music. Shirazi’s music is described as ”unfolding with deliberation” by The New York Times, “well-made” and “affecting” by The New Yorker, and “unusually creative” by San Francisco Classical Voice.
In her works for solo instruments, voice, ensemble, orchestra, and electronics, she mainly focuses on timbre for organizing structures inspired by Persian and English languages and literature.

Shirazi’s music has been featured at festivals and concert series, including Manifeste, Wien Modern, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Mostly Mozart, OutHear New Music Week, MATA, Marlboro Music Festival, Direct Current, Taproot, and Tehran Contemporary Music Festival in venues such as Maison de la Radio France, Radialsystem Berlin, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Kennedy Center. Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Miranda Cuckson, International Contemporary Ensemble, Oerknal, Quince Ensemble, Ensemble Dal Niente, Sarah Cahill, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Empyrean Ensemble, and Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, are among the performers of Shirazi’s music.

Shirazi holds a Ph.D. in composition and music theory from the University of California, Davis. She has studied with Mika Pelo, Pablo Ortiz, Kurt Rohde, Yiğit Aydın, Tolga Yayalar, Onur Türkmen, and Hooshyar Khayam, and participated in workshops and masterclasses by Mark Andre, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, Riccardo Piacentini, and Füsun Köksal, among others. She is a 2022 graduate of IRCAM’s “Cursus Program in Composition and Computer Music.” Shirazi holds a B.M. in music composition and theory from Bilkent University (Ankara, Turkey) and a B.A. in classical piano from Tehran University of Art (Iran.) She has studied santoor (traditional Iranian hammered dulcimer) with Parissa Khosravi Samani.

Shirazi is a founding member and co-artistic director of the Iranian Female Composers Association (IFCA.)

Niloufar Shiri — Composer, Kamancheh & Electronics

Niloufar Shiri is a Kamancheh player, composer, and improviser whose musical world lies at the intersection of classical Iranian music, contemporary music, and experimental improvisation. Her focus revolves around exploring the concept of displacement in relation to familiar and distant environments. Niloufar’s music closely examines textural and timbral spaces, drawing inspiration from staggered pitch relations found in the Radif, as well as bird sounds, noise, and feedback. Her unique and radical approach to Kamancheh performance significantly expands the sonic capabilities of the instrument, placing her at the forefront of its practice.
Niloufar has showcased her work both as a composer and performer at numerous prestigious venues and festivals across the United States, Canada, France, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Mexico City. Her pieces have been performed by acclaimed ensembles such as the JACK Quartet, Del Sol Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble, Loadbang Ensemble, Eclipse Quartet, Hub New Music, LAMNTH, and the San Diego Symphony. She has been featured in renowned festivals such as Mostly Mozart, Ojai Music Festival, Long Beach Festival, Hear Now Festival, LACMA, Tehran Contemporary Music Festival, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Festival POTE, Angel City Jazz Festival, Sled Island Festival, Roulette, National Sawdust, and Skirball NYU, among others.

As an active Kamancheh performer and researcher, Niloufar has conducted numerous lectures and residencies on Kamancheh performance and extended techniques at institutions including Pomona College, Stanford University, University of California San Diego, University of California Irvine, North Carolina State University, Tehran Azad University, Longy School of Music, Seoul Institute of the Arts, and Jordan Center for Persian Studies, among others.

Niloufar holds degrees from the University of California, San Diego in music composition, and the University of California, Irvine, where she studied composition and Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology (ICIT). She has a strong foundation in Traditional Iranian music, having graduated from the Tehran Music Conservatory. During her time at UC Irvine, she served as a Research Assistant focusing on a new pedagogical approach to learning Radif and developing a website, Pish-radif.com, aimed at teaching the Iranian musical systems in Radif. This research was supported by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Niloufar is currently pursuing her PhD in composition at the University of Minnesota.