Composers and Authors

M. S. Sharifian [born 1955]

Mohammad Saeed Sharifian was born in Tehran, Iran. He left Iran at an early age in order to pursue his musical training in England, where he subsequently studied composition, flute, piano, percussion and Visual Arts. During this period, he studied at Huddersfield University, Leeds College of Nusic, the Royal Colleges of London and for four years at the Colchester Institute of Music (Anglian University) with, among other composers, Philip Canon, a former pupil of Vaughan Williams.

In the late 70s and early 80s, he became a member of a group of composers who were actively involved in writing, exploring and also performing modern musical trends of the time. In 1984, while completing his PhD in electroacoustic music and acoustics in Italy, he became the resident composer for two major orchestras in Tuscany, composing regularly for the orchestras’ European tours. In 1990 he returned to Iran, where he engaged himself in composing orchestral and various ensemble scores based on the musical material of Persian folklore in order to develop further the Iranian musical language of the time.

M. S. Sharifian has been resident in both Iran and the UK while pursuing his musical career as composer and lecturer. Among many positions he has held and activities he has undertaken, he was the Managing Director for the Iranian House of Music, the founder member of MAMPHA (Music Application in Mental and Physical Health Association), and a regular speaker on music, including in the media.

He has composed over 80 scores over the past 25 years, encompassing orchestral, choral, ensemble, electroacoustic, film and TV music. Many of these works have received performances throughout Europe, the USA and the Middle East, together with many media broadcasts. His more substantial works and commissions of recent years include The Jewel of Happiness (a BBC commission for the musical setting of Ghazali), Eclipse (a 103-minute oratorio for symphony orchestra, mixed chorus and soloists: the first such work to be written in the 1400-year history of Islamic culture, and now available from Fand on CD), Bani Adam… on Poems by Sa’adi (a symphonic and choral work commissioned for the gathering of Heads of State at the UN, New York) and the symphonies Sardaran and Arvand.

Further information about M. S. Sharifian can be found on his Web site.

		Work	Vocal range	Duration	Published	Price
		Dawn for string orchestra		5½ mins	2009	£14.50
		Forces: String orchestra
		Moderato for piano			2008	£5.00
		Forces: Piano
		Three Lieder on Poems by Hafez for soprano and piano	,B♭ to A		2004	£10.00
		Words: Hafez • Translated by G. H. Wilberforce Clarke Forces: Soprano, Piano