Once Upon a River is commissioned by Seattle-based guitarist, Naeim Rahmani, for Seattle-Isfahan project: 33.
Once Upon a River is a seven-minute music composed for tenor saxophone, guitar, electric guitar, piano and double bass. It is inspired by Sohrab Sepehri's poem, Peygham-e Mahiha, and composed in form of Mendelssohn's songs without words.
Stay tuned for premier's information in Seattle, October 2020.
Detective Phoebe is commissioned by York Region Chamber Music. In 2015, I was provided with 12 melodies composed by elementary and secondary students based in York region to compose a string quartet. I found some notes along with the melodies. Students had shared their interests, favorite colors, their pets, and etc.
I decided to incorporate all 12 melodies in my composition. I also sent the notes to a Boston based writer, Omid Fallahazad, and commissioned him to write a story inspired by children notes. Then I incorporated the story in the compositions. The performers take turn to tell the story while performing.
Blue Girl (2020) is a three-channel video by video, net and performance artist, Raheleh Saneie. The film is a homage to women who self immolate as a form of protest against domestic violence. I had the privilege to be part of this project and collaborate as the composer and sound artist.
The music is performed and recorded by Tahirih Vejdani (soprano), Stacy Dunlap (mezzo soprano), Dobrochna Zubek (cello), Nava Keyhanirad and Ferial Tahmasbi (narration).
Blue Girl made it to the Nine stellar highlights from Toronto’s art scene in 2020.
Maku is inspired by excerpts from the Báb's letter to Muhammad Shah, the king of Iran (1808-1848) while he was imprisoned in Maku for 9 months in 1847. Maku is a personal reflection on how human beings respond to physical and spiritual suffering and pain. What was fascinating and resonated with me while composing was to understand that when we reach our threshold or the point that we think we can't to take it any more, we tend to turn to spirituality and find comfort. It is scored for soprano, flute, clarinet, piano, violin, cello and audio playback.
World premier by: Jacqueline Woodley (soprano), Alheli Pimienta (flute), Peter Stoll (clarinet), Alex Toskov (violin), Narmina Afandiyeva (piano), Pegah Yazdani (piano) and Samuel Bisson (cello).
https://soundcloud.com/parisabet/maku-parisa-sabet-live-recording
Dawn Initiative debut concert, November 23, 2019 at Meridian Arts Centre 6:00 pm.
http://www.meridianartscentre.com/events/dawn
O Nightingale is a composition inspired by one of Rumi's poem, Nightingale. O Nightingale is commissioned by Chicago based musical group, Nightingale Ensemble. The composition is scored for mezzo-soprano, flute, guitar and harp.
“Beauty, love and Justice” is a five-movement orchestral composition approximately 16 minutes long. It is developed based on the basic musical elements that I found common among all cultures such as repetition of simple rhythmic pattern, harmonic series and natural sound effects such as breathing, humming, whispering, talking and air sounds. In addition, I explored various ways of incorporating unusual timbral effects and extended techniques to create an intriguing sonic environment. My ultimate goal was to create complexity by fusing simpler musical elements.
The Stars Are Setting is composed for mandolin orchestra, guitar quartet, voice and strings based on 4 quatrains by Hakim Omar Khayyam (1048 – 1131), a Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer. This composition was commissioned by the Seattle Mandolin Orchestra in conjunction with the Seattle-Isfahan Music Project.
It will be world premiered on June 3, 2018 at Trinity Parish Church, Seattle, WA
For more information about the project please visit: https://www.naeimrahmani.com/seattle-isfahan-guitar-project
Search for Simurgh is a composition for an interdisciplinary interactive performance installation Commissioned by Kate Digby and Erika Batdorf. This interdisciplinary collaborative project was developed under the supervision of Kate Digby and Erika Batdorf in summer 2018 at York University and Toronto Art Media Centre.
Link to the Search for Simurgh project: https://www.simurghproject.org/
A Cup of Sin is composed for chamber ensemble and soprano based on the poetry of Nobel Prize-nominated Iranian poet Simin Behbahani. In this poem, Behbahani addresses sexual violence against women. A Cup of Sin was commissioned by Tim Brady for the Instruments of Happiness - The Lioness of Iran Project.
The composition exists in two versions:
The creation of this composition was made possible by a generous grant from the Ontario Arts Council Music Creation Project Grant.
Performances: Toronto (Mar. 22, 2018), Montréal (Mar. 27, 2018), Québec City (Mar. 29, 2018)
The Seville Orange Tree is a composition written for flute and piano. It was co-commissioned by flutist, James Strauss and pianist, Andre von Frasunkiewicz, in 2017 for the Bicentenary of the Birth of Bahaullah, the founder of Baha'i Faith.
