TEHRAN- Hossein Alizadeh, the outstanding Iranian composer and virtuoso on the long-necked lute instruments tar and setar, will start his Europe tour with Hamavayan Ensemble from November 8.

Their first concert will be held in Munich, Germany, and the day after that, on November 9, they will perform in Zurich, Switzerland, Honaronline reported.

Back in Germany, Alizadeh will hold a concert in Frankfurt on November 10. Their next destination will be Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which will host their performance on November 13.

On November 15 and 16, Hamavayan Ensemble and Alizadeh will perform in Germany, first in Berlin and the next day in Cologne.

Sweden will be their next stop. Their concert in Gothenburg is scheduled on November 17 and on November 20, they will perform in Stockholm. 
 
Alizadeh is considered one of Iran's most cosmopolitan musicians. In his impressive career as a soloist, researcher, and influential teacher, as well as through his compositions that have touched and inspired people inside and outside Iran for decades, he has significantly influenced the sound of contemporary Persian classical music and opened its path to world music. This is evidenced by numerous projects with artists from India, Azerbaijan, Armenia and many other musical traditions.

He has developed a new instrument from the traditional setar: the shourangiz, whose name means “to give passion”.

With the Hamavayan Ensemble, which he founded in 1998, Hossein Alizadeh now brings to Europe a program of new compositions, which also features the new generation of musicians in Iran and displays the vibrancy of the tradition and its continuation in the present. The vocal pieces are compositions by Hossein Alizadeh on texts from classical as well as contemporary Persian poetry, and this program, too, will provide plenty of space for the art of improvisation - an essential part of Persian music.

Hamavayan Ensemble includes Zohre Gholipour and Mehdi Emami as vocalists, Behnam Samani on tombak and percussion, Houshmand Ebadi playing ney, Saba Alizadeh on kamancheh, Parisa Pooladian playing robab, and Ali Boustan on setar. Alizadeh will accompany the band, playing tar and shurangiz, a traditional Persian string instrument.

Born in Tehran, Alizadeh, 72, is a classical composer, researcher, teacher, and tar, setar, and shurangiz player who has made numerous recordings with prominent traditional vocalists including Mohammadreza Shajarian and Shahram Nazeri.

From his beginnings in folk music in East Azarbaijan Province, he soon discovered the “Radif,” the classical Iranian repertoire, which he masters like no other.

He has held many concerts in and outside the country and performed with two national orchestras, as well as with Aref Ensemble, Shayda Ensemble, and Masters of Persian Music group.

He studied music at the Tehran University of Art. Later, he continued his studies at the University of Berlin, where he majored in composition and musicology.

Alizadeh was nominated for the 2007 Grammy Award along with Armenian musician, Djivan Gasparyan, for their joint collaboration on the album, “The Endless Vision”. In 2008, he was voted as Iran’s most distinguished musician of the year.

His collaboration in the composition of over 20 film scores, has won him the Crystal Simorgh Award at the Fajr Film Festival for the movies “Gabbeh” (1995), “The Ugly and the Pretty” (1998), “The Song of Sparrows” (2008) and “The Queen” (2012). Alizadeh has also penned several books related to music.

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