Behzad Ranjbaran at Meet the Composers 2012

Behzad Ranjbaran ( fa, بهزاد رنجبران; born 1955, in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the Capital city, capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is th ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

) is a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

composer, known for his virtuosic concertos and colorful orchestral music. Ranjbaran's music draws from his cultural roots, incorporating Persian musical modes and rhythms.

Life and career

Ranjbaran was born on July 1, 1955, In

. He entered the Tehran Music Conservatory at the age of 9, studying the violin. In his teens while styding Western classical music, Ranjbaran began collecting folk music. Following his graduation, he immigrated to America in 1974. He studied at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. * Indiana Univers ...

, in Bloomington, and later at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

where he obtained a

DMA DMA may refer to: Arts * ''DMA'' (magazine), a defunct dance music magazine * Dallas Museum of Art, an art museum in Texas, US * Danish Music Awards, an award show held in Denmark * BT Digital Music Awards, an annual event in the UK * Doctor of M ...

in music composition. His composition teachers at Juilliard were

Vincent Persichetti Vincent Ludwig Persichetti (June 6, 1915 – August 14, 1987) was an American composer, teacher, and pianist. An important musical educator and writer, he was known for his integration of various new ideas in musical composition into his own wo ...

, David Diamond, and

Joseph Schwantner Joseph Clyde Schwantner (born March 22, 1943, Chicago, Illinois) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer, educator and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 2002. He was awarded the 1970 Charles Ives Prize. Schwantne ...

. Ranjbaran's music is strongly rooted in the Neo-Romantic movement of the late 20th Century, as well as showing the influence of Iranian and other non-Western music. He has written compositions for, among others,

Joshua Bell Joshua David Bell (born December 9, 1967) is an American violinist and conductor. He plays the Gibson Stradivarius. Early life and education Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, to Shirley Bell, a therapist, and Alan P. Bell, a psycholog ...

Renée Fleming Renée Lynn Fleming (born February 14, 1959) is an American soprano, known for performances in opera, concerts, recordings, theater, film, and at major public occasions. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Fleming has been nominated for ...

, and

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma ('' Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...

, as well as a

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

concerto for

Jean-Yves Thibaudet Jean-Yves Thibaudet (born 7 September 1961)Michael & Joyce Kennedy, 2007. is a French pianist. Early life and studies Jean-Yves Thibaudet was born in Lyon, France, to non-professional musical parents. His father played the violin, and his mother, ...

. Many of his works are inspired by

culture and literature. Persian Trilogy, a large

orchestral An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ...

cycle completed in 2000, was inspired by the

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50 ...

of the 11th Century Persian poet Ferdowsi. He has been on the faculty of the

since 1991. His son Armand Ranjbaran is also a composer.

Selected works

;Orchestral * ''Elegy'' for string orchestra (1985) * '' Persian Trilogy'' :# ''Seemorgh'' (1991) :# ''The Blood of Seyavash'' (ballet, 1994) :# ''Seven Passages'' (2000) * Symphony No. 1 (1992) * ''Awakening'' for string orchestra (2005) * ''Saratoga'' (2005) * ''Mithra'' (2010) * ''Esther'' (2015) ;Concertos * Concerto for violin and orchestra (1994) * Concerto for cello and orchestra (1998) * ''Elegy'' for cello and orchestra (1998) * ''Moto Perpetuo'' for violin and string orchestra (2001) * ''Elegy'' for cello (or clarinet) and string orchestra (2004) * Concerto for piano and orchestra (2008) * Concerto for violin, viola and orchestra (2009) * Concerto for flute and orchestra (2013) * Concerto for viola and orchestra (2014) * Concerto for English Horn and String Orchestra (2015) * Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra (2018) ;Chamber music * ''Six Caprices'' for 2 violins (1988) * ''String Quartet No. 1 (1988) * ''Dance of Life'' for violin and double bass (1990) * Caprice No. 1 for violin solo (1995) * ''Moto Perpetuo'' for violin and piano (1998) * ''Ballade'' for double bass solo (1999) * ''Elegy'' for cello and piano (2000) * ''Moto Perpetuo'' for flute and piano (2004) * "Enchanted Garden" for piano Quintet (2005) * ''Shiraz'' for violin, cello and piano (2006) * ''Isfahan'' for clarinet, harp, 2 violins, viola, cello and double bass (2007) * ''Fountains of Fin'' for flute, violin and cello (2008) ;Piano works * ''Nocturne (A Night in a Persian Garden)'' (2002) ;Vocal * ''Songs of Eternity'' for soprano and orchestra (1998) * ''Thomas Jefferson'' for narrator, solo cello and orchestra (1998) * ''Three Persian Songs'' for soprano and piano ;Choral * ''Open Secret'' for chorus and mixed chamber ensemble (1999) * ''We Are One'' for a cappella chorus (2008) * ''We Are One'' for chorus and orchestra in 5 movements (2018)

Awards

*Rudolf Nissim Award *Charles Ives Award

Students

* James Lavino * Jay "Bluejay" Greenberg

References

External links

Behzad Ranjbaran's page at Theodore Presser CompanyBehzad Ranjbaran official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranjbaran, Behzad 1955 births Iranian classical composers Iranian emigrants to the United States Juilliard School alumni Living people People from Tehran Persian classical musicians