Ahmad Pejman Passed Away!

Composer and music teacher Ahmad Pejman (1935–2025) passed away on August 29 in Los Angeles, USA, after several weeks of illness. His most recent symphonic work performed in Iran was Land of the Brave Symphony (Sarzameen-e Delavaran), staged in 2017 with the Tehran Symphony Orchestra. According to the family’s decision, his body will be laid to rest in the United States.

Ahmad Pejman, born on July 9, 1935, in Lar, Fars Province, was an Iranian composer and musician. As a child and teenager, he became familiar with the rhythms and folk music of southern Iran. In high school, he studied violin with Heshmat Sanjari and music theory with Hossein Nassahi. Later, he joined the Saba Orchestra under Hossein Dehlavi and the Tehran Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Heshmat Sanjari and Heimo Teuber as a violinist.

In 1963, he completed his undergraduate studies in English language and literature at Daneshsara-ye ‘Aali (Teachers College). In 1964, on a scholarship, he traveled to Austria and studied composition at the Vienna Academy of Music under professors Thomas Christian David, Alfred Uhl, and Hans Jelinek.

In 1968, after completing his studies, he returned to Iran and began working as a composer for Rudaki Hall and as a professor at the University of Tehran. Works from this period include Jashn-e Dehqān Opera (The Farmer’s Festival, for the opening of Rudaki Hall), Delavar-e Sahand Opera (based on the life of Babak Khorramdin), and Samandar Opera—all staged before the 1979 Revolution.

In 1975, he went to Columbia University (New York) to pursue a doctorate in composition and studied electronic music with Vladimir Ussachevsky, Jack Beeson, and Bülent Arel. From the 1990s onward, he occasionally taught harmony, counterpoint, and composition at the Faculty of Music, University of Art, Tehran.

Selected Works

By the Brook and Rustic Song, and other early compositions prior to his academic studies

Concerto for Nine Instruments (his first work written and performed at the Vienna Academy of Music)

Rhapsody for Orchestra (1965)

Sonata for Viola and Piano (1966)

Persian Overture (1966)

Jashn-e Dehqān Opera (1967, for the opening of Rudaki Hall)

Delavar-e Sahand Opera (1968, based on the life of Babak Khorramdin)

Roshana’i Ballet (Light, 1969)

Samandar Opera (1970, his last opera before the Revolution)

Baba Barfi (children’s music, 1971)

Gol Oomad, Bahar Oomad (children’s music, 1971)

Nima Youshij Poetry Music (1972)

Impression Ballet (1973)

Ayyaran Ballet (folk ballet, 1974)

Symphonic Sketches (1975)

Epic Collection (works before the Revolution, 1976)

Seven Little Pieces (1978)

Hameh Shahr-e Iran (All of Iran, folk music, 1979)

Khorramshahr (1992)

Mokhtar Choral Work / Lone Rider of Love (1993, for a musical play)

Haft Khan-e Rostam (The Seven Labors of Rostam, 1996)

Sarāb (Mirage, 2001)

Khaterehā-ye Fardā (Memories of Tomorrow, 2002)

Nâgahan Rastakhiz (Sudden Resurrection, 2007)

Sāyehā-ye Khorshid (Shadows of the Sun, 2010)

Nowruz Symphony in five movements (2011)

Divertimento / House of Wisdom for string orchestra in four movements (2016)

Pars-Avā / Perso for piano in five movements (2016)

Sarzameen-e Delavaran Symphony (Land of the Brave, 2017)

Sohrab Sepehri Poetry Music (2017)

Film Music

A Documentary about Iran (Manouchehr Asgari-Nasab, 1971)

Delirān-e Tangestān (Homayoun Shahnawaz, 1971)

Samak the Ayyar (Mohammadreza Aslani, 1974)

Prince Ehtejab (Bahman Farmanara, 1974)

Tall Shadows of the Wind (Bahman Farmanara, 1979)

Made in Iran (Amir Naderi, 1980)

The Highway of Civilization (David Frost, 1980)

Hedid (Sirous Norsasteh, 1986)

The Actor (Mohsen Makhmalbaf, 1992)

Zinat (Ebrahim Mokhtari, 1993)

Kimia (Ahmadreza Darvish, 1994)

Blue Scarf (Rakhshan Banietemad, 1994)

A Documentary about Iran (Mostafa Razagh Karimi, 1996)

Lost Love (Saeed Asadi, 1997)

Temptation (Jamshid Akrami, 1998)

Smell of Camphor, Fragrance of Jasmine (Bahman Farmanara, 1999)

Baran (Majid Majidi, 2000)

Journey to Tomorrow (Mohammad Hossein Haghighi, 2001)

A House on the Water (Bahman Farmanara, 2001)

With the Wind in the Desert’s Solitude (Manouchehr Tayyab, 2001)

Astan-e Qods Razavi (Manouchehr Tayyab, 2003)

The Willow Tree (Majid Majidi, 2004)

A Little Kiss (Bahman Farmanara, 2004)

The Persian Gulf (Manouchehr Tayyab, 2005)

The Ancient Land (Kamal Tabrizi, 2008)

Alborz (Manouchehr Tayyab, 2011)

Post a Comment


Warning: Undefined variable $user_ID in C:\host-websites\harmonytalk.com\domains\en.harmonytalk.com\www\wp-content\themes\harmonytalk\comments.php on line 93
Required fields are marked *
*
*
Your email is never shared.

Parva, Iranian Singer, Passes Away!

Parva, a singer of Iranian music, has passed away after a period of illness. In recent years, she had been residing in both Iran and Austria.

Iraj Passes Away!

Iraj (Hossein Khajeh-Amiri), born on January 1, 1933, in Natanz, and one of the most renowned figures in Iranian vocal music, passed away at the age of 94 after several months of illness. He was born into an artistic and cultivated family; his ancestor was a celebrated singer during the era of Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar, and his father, who himself possessed a fine voice and was well-versed in the radifs (modal systems) of Persian music, devoted years to training his son’s voice. In his early youth, Iraj also participated in Ta’ziyeh (religious passion plays) and learned the subtleties of vocal performance step by step from Ta’ziyeh performers who had mastered the radifs and modes.

From Past Days…

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.

“Guitar Memories” Released

The album “Guitar Memories” consists of the performance of baroque to recent era masterpieces, by Mehrdad Mahdavi, and is published by Tanin-e Honar Publication.

In this album there are pieces composed and arranged by artists such as: Sylvius Leopold Weiss, Johann Anton Logy, Fernando Sor, Yuquijiro Yocoh, Leo Brouwer.

Nasser Masoudi: The Voice of Gilan and a Legacy of Iranian Music

In Iranian music, certain singers have become emblematic of their homelands through their distinctive voices. Historical figures such as Eghbal Sultan, who epitomized the grandeur of Azerbaijani music, and Taj Isfahani, who conveyed the authentic essence of Isfahan, serve as notable examples from the Qajar era. Nasser Masoudi occupies a similar position; his voice emerged as a symbol of Gilan while also achieving national acclaim. Before him, Master Ahmad Ashurpur represented Gilan’s musical landscape, but his extended residence outside Iran limited his continuous engagement in the music scene. In contrast, Masoudi’s consistent presence allowed him to introduce the voice of Gilan to audiences across Iran.

The Structure of Kurdistan Daf (VI)

Researcher: Mohammad Tarighat Translator: Fatemeh Alimohammadi Hooks and attached rings: The junction of the ring to the arch is about 3 centimeters from the skin.  The ring with its side rings should be as far as the diameter of a ring (about one and a half to one and eight centimeters) to make a proper…
Read More »

HarmonyTalk Journal’s Twentieth Anniversary Celebration

On the 10th of Khordad, 1403 (equivalent to May 30, 2024), the twentieth anniversary celebration of the online journal “HarmonyTalk” took place at the Ersbārān Cultural Center. The event garnered such interest from enthusiasts that the venue was completely filled.

Rare documents of Tehran Opera Company published in Europe

The year 2020 marks the 10th anniversary of Evlin Baghcheban’s death. She played a crucial role to promote opera and choral music in Persia (Iran). Born to an Assyrian-French family in Turkey, she studied singing and piano at the Ankara State Conservatory. In 1950 Evlin married the Persian composer and fellow student Samin Baghcheban and moved to Tehran.

Parva, Iranian Singer, Passes Away!

Parva, a singer of Iranian music, has passed away after a period of illness. In recent years, she had been residing in both Iran and Austria.

HarmonyTalk Celebrates 11th Anniversary

April 6 marks the anniversary of launching HarmonyTalk.com. Back in 2004, HarmonyTalk was rather a blog dedicated to music. Gradually, however, it found its way to becoming a more sophisticated journal with an intensive but not exclusive concentration on classical music.

Music education in third-world countries

Music education in third-world countries is facing many problems that limit access to it and it’s full of challenges. These rising and falling obstacles are made of the socioeconomic, cultural educational systems, etc.

Davoud Pirnia (1900 - 1971)

About Davoud Pirnia, the founder of “Golha” radio program

Davoud Pirnia, writer and musicologist was the founder of “Golha” (Flowers of Persian Song and Music) programs on Tehran Radio (1956-1966). He received his early education from his father, Hassan Pirnia (Moshir al-Douleh), and several tutors of the time (Taraghi, interview, July 1989) and continued his studies at Saint Louis School in Tehran and then in Switzerland and graduated in law. While studying law, Pirnia got acquainted with European classical music. Upon returning to Iran, he was employed by the Ministry of Justice and founded the Lawyers’ Guild. Then he was transferred to the Ministry of Finance and established the Department of Statistics in this ministry. Later, he became the head of the state inspection office at the Prime Ministry; he was, then, promoted to the position of the Deputy Prime Minister (Navab Safa, interview, August 1999)