Compositions

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:

• Voice and electric guitar quartet
• Voice, clarinet, piano, viola, cello and electric guitar

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.

Dust-Flower-Flame (2016) is a long documentary film about Tahirih Qurratul-Ayn by Shabnam Tolouei.

The documentary has been broadcast in: Pouya Cultural Center, Paris (May 2016), Le Nouvel Odéon, Paris (July 2016), Stanford University and University of Maryland, USA (August 2016), The Regent Street Cinema, London, UCLA, SVA Theatre New York (November 2016), Toronto, Canada (February 2017), Yale University, USA (February 2017).

"Layegheh" (2016) 62 minutes, is a poetic documentary based on the life of Layegheh Doorandish, the first woman TV anchor and producer in Abadan, Iran. Her life stories revisit the early days of TV in Iran, revolution and war, and rebuilding life in exile. It is directed by artist/filmmaker, Rashin Fahandej.

The documentary has been broadcast on: ManoTo TV (April 2016 ) and VOA (June 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)

Its Around 130 is a composition for marimba and fixed media. It is inspired by my baby boy's heart beat that I recorded on week 28th when I visited my doctor.
The tape part includes: my baby's heart beat, sound effects edited and processed on dumbak, recording of my husband's voice reading a passage about our baby's name, Elia, parts of my conversation with my doctor as well as other sound effects that represents sounds that a baby may hear when he is still inside his mom.

I would like to thank amazing and talented dumbak player, Bijan Rahmani, for recording sound effects on Dumbak for this composition.

When the Roses Laugh in Full-blown Beauty is a six-minute duo written for harp and marimba. I also have arranged a version for violin, cello and piano as well as Bb clarinet, cello and piano.

Audio information: performed by Emily Granger (harp) and Chris Sies (Marimba) at 2016 fulcrumpoint Discoveries!

Emily Granger (harp) and Claire Edwardes' (marimba) performance on December 22, 2020 on Youtube: https://youtu.be/HaRBNksSKKA

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT4KR9RaZrU&t=9s

The Unity's Light is a choral composition written for SATB. The text is selected from Bahá'u'lláh's (the founder of Bahai faith) Writings.

"You are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch."

"So powerful is unity’s light that it can illumine the whole earth."

"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."