Then It Was This One is composed for clarinet, piano, and cello. It is inspired by Uzeyir Hajibeyli's operetta, If Not That One, Then This One. The composition received Certificate of Achievement & Publishing in the USA from the Hajibeyli International Composition Competition.
A proud, recently retired woman and her adult daughter square-off in a grand but faded Montréal apartment. It’s a familiar and tiresome routine for the two of them, but today their complex give-and-take will open a door to an entirely unexpected, terrifying, and potentially wondrous future neither are fully ready to enter. Vanishing Point is a 30-minute opera for soprano, mezzo-soprano, and Pierrot Ensemble instrumentation that I created in collaboration with librettist Nika Khanjani. We have taken elements from our shared history as Iranian immigrants to craft a challenging piece of complex and nuanced emotional shifts, a whiplash of tenderness and bitterness, and a sober question of whether we can reframe a crisis into an opportunity to show up fully present for someone we love even as we watch them slip away. Densely crafted around themes of loss, migration, and unresolved trauma, it asks audiences to bring their attention, patience, and empathy to an emotional canvas that is perhaps uncommon in traditional opera.
We have designed this opera as a vehicle exclusively for BIPOC performers. On the premier performance, Dr. J. Marchand Knight and Fredericka Petit-Homme will embody two women who, like many Iranian immigrants to North America, resist aligning themselves with any simple and reductive category—especially when facing the universal challenges and heartbreak of the loss of identity through dementia.
The world premiere of opera will take place at Salle Bourgie, Montreal, Quebec on October 10, 2021 at 7:30 pm (EDT). Link: https://thepointofsale.com/tickets/trytique
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.
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.
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)
How I Love You is a mini musical play for children composed for soprano, flute, cello, percussion. It is commissioned by Sharing Notes-Ear Taxi Festival 2016. It will be world premierd at La Rabida Children’s Hospital on October 6, 2016.
And the Lands Were Dreaming was commissioned by Anoush Tabai for tenor, b flat clarinet and piano to be performed at her 4th-year recital degree in Spring 2016. The poems are by M.R. Zaman and Sohrab Sepehri.
Anoush Tabai (clarinet), Asal Iranmehr (piano) and Jonathan MacArthur (tenor)
Thousands of Candles was commissioned by the Perfect Chord choir for the 2016 Australian Baha'i Choral Festival directed by Lorraine Manifold. The Festival was held in Sydney Baha’i House of Worship. The temple is open to people of all beliefs. Therefore, I decided to compose a choral piece using multi-faith texts to stand as a symbol of unity.
"..... Let your heart burn with loving-kindness for all who cross your path." ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Paris Talks
“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” The Teachigns of Buddha
"Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind." The Holy Bible
