
Alireza Farhang
Composer
France - Iran


ARTISTIC VISION AND WORK
For me, music is a living organism, constantly shifting and breathing. My writing unfolds like a gesture—at once origin and destination—where the voice becomes vibration, the body becomes energy, and sound becomes a fragile trace laid upon silence.
My music emerges from multiple heritages that I seek to let coexist without erasing their frictions. From Persian oral tradition, I inherit the undefined, the intuitive, the mystical; from Western composition, I embrace structural rigor and analytical clarity. Each piece becomes an attempt—always unfinished, always open—to bridge these worlds. My cycle Ictus Vocis is an emblematic example: musicians integrate vocality, ornamentation, and hybrid gestures drawn from various traditions into a contemporary language.
Born in Kerman, an ancient city in Iran, I often weave into my titles and sound imagery subtle references to Persian mythology and landscapes. These elements are not folkloric or exotic markers. They reflect an identity shaped across two cultural horizons. One can hear this duality in the fragile monodies, the glissandi and portamenti evoking Eastern vocal virtuosity, or in the fine, intricate lines reminiscent of the ornamentation of Persian carpets.
At the same time, my polyphonic writing draws deeply from Western heritage. I explore harmony as a spectrum, open instrumental sound through multiphonics, micro-intervals, and spectral resonances, and work with oscillations and iridescent textures where darkness suddenly cracks open into light. This poetics of luminosity reflects a spiritual search—not religious, but perceptual, rooted in the inner
listening of sound.
My works are not cultural crossroads nor identity showcases; they are spaces of transformation. I seek to decontextualize, transmute, and recompose. Each piece becomes a laboratory of gestures and forms, a field where memory dialogues with invention, and where tradition meets contemporary experimentation.
From Tak-Sīm (Kronos Quartet) to Mots de jeu (graphic notation and voice), Pavane pour le Temps mort (participatory musical theatre with children), or Chuchotements burlesques (music-theatre with electronics), my intention is consistent: to make music an embodied, shared, and living experience—one that embraces fragility as much as intensity.
In this sense, my artistic approach is as much poetic as philosophical, traversing Orient and Occident, memory and invention, darkness and radiance. My music seeks not only to be heard but to be lived as a space of inner and collective transformation.
PERSONAL BACKGROUND
As a composer born in Iran, I come from a society where politics, religion, and freedom are intricately entangled. I have lived through war, social repression, and political struggle, but I have also witnessed the resilience and creativity of a generation that continues to fight for its rights. These lived and imagined histories permeate my work in subtle and profound ways.
MY POSITION AS AN ARTIST TOWARD POLITICS
Artists reveal reality; politicians often conceal it. For me, art can be a powerful political force, capable of expressing ideas, ideologies, and social demands. Conversely, government policies—through censorship, funding systems, or cultural agendas—shape artistic production.
CURATORIAL EXPERIENCE
I believe composers play a multifaceted role within society. I do not identify with the romantic image of the isolated creator detached from real life. A musical work should reflect the engagement of its creator with the world. Yet neither conservatories nor universities teach this dimension, and the precarious economic conditions of composers make such engagement difficult.
For both artistic and social reasons, I founded a festival in 2023 and an ensemble in 2024 in Nice, the city where I now live after seventeen rich years in Paris. Although known historically as a refuge for artists, Nice had in recent years lacked a strong presence in contemporary creation. Building these structures has been as meaningful to me as composing.

Works
Excerpts:
For more information and listen to the entire work click on the title.
Title | Instrumentation | Duration | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
Dialog | For ensemble | 11' | 2026 |
Poésie sans Voix | Solo for vibraphone | 09' | 2019 |
Wīs o Rāmīn | Trio for flute, clarinet and percussion | 20' | 2019 |
Mots de jeu | 5 female voices and electronics | 12' | 2018 |
Anagrān | Piano quintet | 18' | 2017 |
Sabā | Oud and 14 instruments | 20' | 2007 |