Persian Symphonic Music

Persian Symphonic Music has a long history. In fact Opera originated from Persia much before its emergence in Europe. Iranians traditionally performed Tazeeieh, which in many respects resembles the European Opera.[1] The first serious pieces of Persian symphonic music have been composed by Gholma-Reza Minbashian, Gholam-Hossein Minbashian, Aminollah Hossein, Parviz Mahmoud and then Houshang Ostovar, Samin Baghtcheban, Emanuel Melik-Aslanian, Morteza Hannaneh, Hossein Nassehi, Hossein Dehlavi, Ahmad Pejman, Mohammad Taghi Massoudieh, etc.
There are also some growing attempts to combine Persian classical music and western classical music. Davood Azad, a renowned Iranian musician and vocalist, melded Johann Sebastian Bach's music style and Iranian classical music.
Iran's main orchestra include: National Orchestra, Tehran Symphony Orchestra and Perspolis Symphony Orchestra (Nations Orchestra).
Iran is not alien to western classical music either. Many radio stations in Tehran play Mozart's concertos on a daily basis, and many Iranians even make it to world fame and fortune. The late 20th century classical composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji was of Iranian descent. The best examples of these Iranians are perhaps Shardad Rohani (LA Symphony Orchestra conductor), Lily Afshar (world class classical guitarist and student of Andrés Segovia), Loris Tjeknavorian(principal conductor to the Rudaki Opera House Orchestra in Tehran) [2] , and Hormoz Farhat (Composer, Ethnomusicologist, Music Professor). Moreover, Zubin Mehta, the world-famous classical conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, is of Iranian ancestry and acted as guest conductor of Tehran Symphony Orchestra.
In 2005, Ali Rahbari, the head of Tehran Symphony Orchestra, performed Beethoven's 9th Symphony in Tehran Vahdat Hall.[3]
Also in 2005, Perspolis Orchestra (Melal Orchestra) played a piece which dates back to 3000 years ago. The notes of this piece of music, which is believed to have belonged to Sumerians and ancient Greeks, were discovered among some ancient inscriptions and after being deciphered by archaeologists, was orchestrated by Siavosh Beizaee for Perspolis Orchestra Symphony. However, as it is demonstrated on ancient reliefs of that era, the instrumentations of such pieces probably comprised wind instruments like horn and pipe. Renowned Iranian musician, Peyman Soltani, conducted the Perspolis orchestra.[2] in 2007, keyvan yahya, young mathemusician, established a symphony orchestra named satrap philharmonic orchestra,this orchestra performs some classical and modern music by western composer and also concerns Persian symphonic pieces in its repertoire.