Arsalan Abedian

Arsalan Abedian (b. 1984) was born in Tehran (Iran). His musical studies began by learning to play the santur with Omid Sayareh. In 2007 he graduated from Azad University with a Bachelor’s degree in composition and in 2011 from Tehran University of Art with a Master’s degree in the same field. He continued his studies at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media (where he obtained a Master’s degree in Electronic Music in 2014 and a Soloklasse Konzertexamen degree in composition in 2016). Abedian studied composition with Kiawasch Sahebnasagh et al. in Iran and with Oliver Schneller, Joachim Heintz, Ming Tsao and Gordon Williamson in Germany as well as taking composition seminars with Rebecca Saunders and José María Sánchez-Verdú.
As a composer, organizer and a member of Yarava Music Group, he has participated in numerous concerts, seminars and other events in Iran since 2006. He established the record label Contemporary Music Records (2009) in Tehran. He was a co-initiator of the first competition for electroacoustic music composition in Iran (Reza Korourian Awards) and acted as a jury member and publisher (2016 – 2018) in this event. Since 2003 he has written and translated several articles about contemporary music in Iranian music journals as well as in Germany.
As a commissioned composer of several festivals and ensembles, his works have been performed in different countries. The DEGEM (German Society for Electroacoustic Music) has published two of his works in its CD-Edition (CD 13 Grenzen [2015] as well as CD 14 Escape [2016] ).
Among other stipends Abedian has received a one-year composition scholarship (2018 – 2019) from the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture. He is currently completing his doctorate in historical musicology in Hanover with a Ph.D. scholarship from the Heinrich Böll Foundation.