Payam Taghadossi: Talented Iranian-Austrian Cellist

Payam Taghadossi (born in 1989) started his musical education at the age of 4 years with Monika Scherbaum in Bregenz (Austria). At the Conservatory Feldkirch he joined the class of Imke Frank and Martin Merker. Later he studied in Zurich (Switzerland) with Thomas Grossenbacher and Christian Proske, where he 2011 graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance. Two years later as the student of Rafael Rosenfeld he received his Master of Arts in Music Performance diploma and later graduated as a Master of Arts in spezialized Music Performance in 2016 from the Hochschule für Musik Basel FHNW.

Audio FileWatch Payam playing cello at the age of 18.

The cellist won several awards. (e. g. 1st prize and a special award at the competition of the International Fajr Music Festival (2008), the 2nd Prize at the International Karl Davidov Cello Competition in Latvia. Furthermore he is a 5 times winner of the 1st prize at the austrian national Prima La Musica Competition).

As a soloist he has performed Tschaikovsky`s Rokoko Variations with the Basel Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland, the Schumann Cello and Brahms Double Concerto with the Orchestra of Albstadt in Germany, the Haydn C-Major Cello Concerto with the Ensemble Viatores in Austria, the Beethoven Tripel Concerto with the Orchestra Liechtenstein-Werdenberg and Tschaikovky`s Pezzo Capriccioso with the Philharmonie Budweis.

He received further impetus by attending masterclasses of David Geringas, Ivan Monighetti, Frans Helmerson, Wolfgang Boettcher, Miklos Perenyi, Reinhard Latzko, Jens-Peter Maintz, Wolfgang Emmanuel Schmidt, Valter Despalj and Wenn-Sinn Yang. He received scholarships by the Meadow Mount School of Music (New York), the P.E. Förderkreis (Mannheim, Germany) and the International Richard Wagner Association.

One focus of his musical activities is chamber music. In 2009 he founded, together with Romaine Bolinger and Alexander Boeschoten, the piano trio “Gagliano Trio”. The Trio gave it`s debut in 2009 at the Zurich University of Arts. During its studies the ensemble was decisively influenced by Stephan Goerner (Carmina Quartet), Benjamin Engeli (Tecchler Trio), Eckart Heiligers (Trio Jean Paul), Rafael Rosenfeld (Merel Quartet), Zakhar Bron, Thomas Grossenbacher und Prof. Homero Francesch. The Trio has already been a guest at international concert venues and festivals (e. g. Schubertiade Hohenems (Austria), Kammermusik Basel, Rüttihubeliade). Their repertoire draws a line from the works of the classical period, via the Romantic idea of „poetic music“ to the music of today. Several concerts were recorded by the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF). Recently the ensemble triumphed at the chamber music competition of the August Pickart foundation. By naming their ensemble Gagliano Trio, the three musicians refer to the neapolitan luthier family, who wrote music history by making stringed instruments in the 18th and 19th century. The violinst Romaine Bolinger plays on an instrument made by Ferdinando Gagliano and Payam Taghadossi plays a cello made by Lorenzo Ventapane, who was a pupil of Nicolo Gagliano.
Payam Taghadossi collected essential orchestral experience as an intern and later substitude at the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra and as principal cellist with the Basel Sinfonietta, Bron Chamber Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of Liechtenstein before the Basel Symphony Orchestra hired him in 2014. He appeared as a soloist and in various chamber ensembles from North America, Europe and the Middle East, to South Korea and Japan. He currently plays a Lorenzo Ventapane cello from the year 1820.

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Farhad Poupel: The Voice of the Shahnameh in the Orchestras Around the World

In an era when almost no trace of contemporary Iranian music can be heard in international concert halls, except (so-called!) avant-garde works that owe their existence solely to the fashionable slogans of the “pseudo-intellectual” crowd who have seized the already meager resources for performing classical music from the true artists of the field, the numerous performances of Farhad Poupel’s works shine as a ray of hope for lovers of sincere musical art. Without resorting to trendy slogans, he has kept the flame of Iranian classical music alive purely through the power of his artistry.

Five Major Myths About Mozart’s Life

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the renowned Austrian composer, is undoubtedly one of the greatest geniuses in the history of classical music. However, his life is surrounded by numerous myths and legends, some of which are not based on facts. This article explores five of the most common misconceptions about Mozart’s life.

From Past Days…

The Structure of Kurdistan Daf (III)

“Our ancestors believe powerful blows upon the Daf scatters evil spirits of disease and distress to create a clean and holy space filled with health and prosperity. Adding tools to Daf increases this instrument’s purification, spreading, and summoning powers of evil forces and goddesses. Daf was mostly depicted by red, color of blood, in ancient times or sometimes it was depicted with green, the color of plants and nature. There were probably some mysterious designs painted upon the wooden body and frames of these instruments just like today” (Pahlavan, 2013: 44).

From the Last Instrumentalist to the First Composer (I)

Music as an art has its own special history; emergence of a singer, of an instrumentalist and then the emergence of the strong character of a composer covers three significant phases of the art of music. With the emergence of composer which was simultaneous with the emergence of the language of music, this art managed to offer a domain for criticism for its composer; a procedure which led to a magnificent variety and evolution in musical production. Even though the conflicts between singers and instrumentalists have not met their end in the Iranian society and while singers can achieve high, instrumentalists have yet to play behind curtains . In a special era, with the efforts of musicians such as Ali Naghi Vaziri (1887-1979) and Rouhollah Khaleghi (1906-1965), glimmers of a composing era started to glow bearing fruit in Khaleghi’s achievement as Iran’s first professional composer. Khaleghi made his reputation as a composer while Vaziri deserved to pioneer this path. By then Vaziri was well-known as a Tar player.

A Persian Nocturne for Piano

A Night in a Persian Garden is the name of a Nocturne composed by the Persian (Iranian) contemporary composer Behzad Ranjbaran. This Nocturne, published recently by the Theodore Presser Company in the US, was performed for the first time in 2002 in New York City by the young Persian pianist Soheil Nasseri and has enjoyed many performances by other pianists.

A Note on the Occasion of Houshang Zarif’s Demise

No introduction is needed when talking about the position of the late Houshang Zarif (1938-2020) in the Iranian music. His character and personality are so well-known among musicians that his name per se is a symbol and role model for the Iranian youth. “Becoming Houshang Zarif” is the dream of many young people who enter the world of music in Iran and many of whom retire regretting the realisation of this dream.

New Technique for Playing Classical Guitar (II)

When the author was working on the piece “Playing Love” by Ennio Morricone (from the legend of 1900), he realized a failure of the Lip Technique. Needing to play a chord in the 14th position of the guitar and in order to complete the harmony, it is necessary to play a harmonic note on the 7th or 5th position; it was not possible to touch the string to play this harmonic note, because the Lip Technique is used for getting the notes and not to touch the string and producing harmonic notes. Naturally, the only possible way to touch the string was to use the nose at the required position and playing the note with the right hand, and this was the best option the author found to how to play such harmonic notes, and where the Nose Technique was generated.

Ruggero Chiesa’s Legacy

Written by Peyman Shirali Translated by Mahta Mottaghi Since many years ago, I had the intention of writing an article on the Italian maestro Ruggero Chiesa and his musical life; but his ingenuity and the immense legacy, which is impressive for not only me, but also almost everyone who knows him properly, made it hard for me…
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Musical Sense or Technique?

One of the most popular terms used by Iranian instrumentalists is the existence or a lack of musical “sense”. Both musicians and fans of music consider having “sense” while playing music as an important principle to the extent that they use it vis-a-vis having technique.

Motherland Orchestra Broke the Spell of the Covid-19 Restrictions

The Motherland Orchestra staged the first concert since the outbreak of the pandemic under the baton of Nezhat Amiri. The orchestra went on stage on December 23-24, 2021 in memory of Rouhollah Khaleghi and Golnoush Khaleghi at Vahdat Hall, Tehran, Iran. Since the pandemic outbreak, concerts were held online and restrictions were imposed on in-person concerts.

Hassan Kassai, Ney Virtuoso

The name of Maestro Hassan Kassai is so vehemently intertwined with Ney (Persian reed flute) that one cannot imagine one without the other immediately coming into mind. Ney is one of the instruments which went through a lot of ups and downs in the history of the Iranian music since the time of Sassanid kings to the time when shepherds found playing it consoling when they took their cattle for grazing. However, Nay could never demonstrate its main capacities to gain a stable position among the musicians and the people like other instruments including Oud, Tar, Santour, all sorts of bowed string instruments and plucked string instruments.

Interview with Farhad Poupel (I)

Born in Isfahan, Iran, and based in the UK, Farhad Poupel’s music has been performed and will be performed in numerous prestigious concert halls and festivals throughout the world including Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Japan; La Roque-d’Anthéron Piano Festival, La Roque-d’Anthéron, France; Biarritz Festival, Biarritz, France; Stoller Hall, Manchester, UK; Janacek academy of music and performing art, Brno, Czech Republic; Karlskrona International Piano Festival, Karlskrona, Sweden; by distinguished artists such as Kotaro Fukuma, Peter Jablonski, Daniel Grimwood, Margaret Fingerhut, Catherine Carby, Kristýna Znamenáčková,Jeffrey Biegel, Jean-Francois Bouvery and orchestras such as Windsor Symphony Orchestra or broadcasted on the NPR Radio 4, Netherland. The following is an interview with him on the ocaasion of the premier of the Legend of Bijan and Manijeh.