TEHRAN – The 3rd Tehran International Contemporary Music Festival will open at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMCA) on Friday.

“German musician and composer John Strieder is expected to give a performance at the opening ceremony,” Navid Gohari, the artistic director of the festival, said in a press conference held at the TMCA on Tuesday.

However, a seminar on contemporary music is scheduled to open earlier on Thursday. Nader Mashayekhi, a former conductor of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, and several other musicians, will deliver speeches at the seminar.

Musicians from Belgium, Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Switzerland along with artists from Iran will be giving performances at several halls across Tehran during the event. 

Over 130 musicians in 27 different ensembles will give concerts at Azadi Tower, Rudaki Hall and the Hafez Hall of the Rudaki Foundation.

A piano recital by Emanuela Piemonti from Italy, which will be held at Rudaki Hall on April 23, is among the highlights of the festival.

In addition, several seminars have been organized on the sidelines of the festival, which will take place at the Culture and Art Applied Science University.

A selection of 121 compositions by 81 Iranian and international artists will be performed during the event that will run until April 27.

The international musicians and ensembles have been selected by the Spectro Centre for New Music founded by Polish-Iranian couple Martyna Kosecka and Idin Samimi Mofakham.

The Tehran Contemporary Music Festival, as the only national and international festival in the field of contemporary and academic music, is an independent cultural and artistic event, which is held annually with support from cultural and artistic institutions and associations.

Photo: The Nivak Ensemble, an Iranian duet established by the Zarbakhsh sisters, performs during the 2nd Tehran International Contemporary Music Festival at Rudaki Hall on May 4, 2017. (Honaronline/Farzan Qasemi) 

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