Popular old melodies took the audiences down memory lane at well-known composer Shahrdad Rohani’s concert at the ministry of interior’s main hall in Tehran organized over the week-end (Jan 22-23).
On the first night of the concert, Rohani accompanied by a symphony orchestra, performed classical music pieces in two parts, FNA reported.
The first part included 11 well-known Iranian pieces, “with a modern arrangement for stringed instruments” in the orchestra. All the pieces were famous old tunes creating a sense of nostalgia in the audience who were clearly absorbed in the musical performance and their good old memories.
The second part was more international in approach. With wind and percussion instruments the orchestra performed a number of memorable movie scores including ‘The Message’ (1976) directed by Moustapha Akkad, ‘Gladiator’ (2000) by Ridley Scott, ‘Dances With Wolves’ (1990) by Kevin Costner, ‘Gone With the Wind’ (1939) by Victor Fleming, ‘Jaws’ (1975) and Schindler’s List’ (1993) by Steven Spielberg, and ‘The Mission’ (1986) by Roland Joffe. Not forgetting a memorable piece in memory of the late well-known American composer Henry Mancini who is best known for his theme in ‘The Pink Panther’ film series.
At the end of the night, a pleased audience left the hall having seen a glorious performance by a creative conductor and composer. The packed concert hall indicated “the understanding and acceptance of classy national music with a global approach by the public.”
Professional Musicians
Earlier at a press conference, Rohani had noted that the orchestra accompanying him is composed of professional musicians who were previously members of Tehran Symphony Orchestra and other music groups.
Born in 1954 in Tehran, Shahrdad Rohani is an Iranian composer, violinist, pianist, and conductor. He is well known for composing and conducting classical, instrumental, new age, and pop music as well as film soundtracks.
By 1975, he was studying music composition and conducting at the Vienna Music Academy. In 1984 Shahrdad moved to the US to attend UCLA.
He has appeared as a guest conductor with a number of prestigious orchestras including London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras and many others.
Achievements
Shahrdad arranged and conducted a 60 piece orchestra to supplement Yanni’s keyboard compositions during the Yanni Live at the Acropolis concert in 1993; it was an open-air concert with the London Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra in the Parthenon, Athens, Greece. Shahrdad also played the violin in all but two of the tracks at this concert. Yanni Live at the Acropolis was acclaimed by both critics and audience and became the most widely viewed program ever shown on Public Television in the United States and is the second best-selling music video of all times.
Rohani was commissioned in 1998 by the government of Thailand and the committee of the 13th Asian Games to compose and conduct the music for the opening ceremonies. The composition became the most popular song of the Asian Games.
In 1999 he received Thailand’s Pikanes award, the country’s most prestigious music award for an outstanding orchestral performance. The award is considered the highest artistic achievement.
