Biography

Arshia Samsaminia (*1989 Tehran, Iran) 

He studied contemporary composition at Sibelius Academy of Music in Finland, University of Gothenburg, in Sweden, UDK University of Arts in Berlin, Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, and Tbilisi State Music Conservatory under the supervision of Helena Tulve, Malin Bång, Manolis Vlitakis, Tapio Tuomela, Ole Lutzüow Holm, Maka Virsalaze and etc. 

Samsaminia is a current Ph.D. candidate at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece under the supervision of Prof. Dimitri Papageorgiou and Prof. Caspar Johannes Walter (University of Sciences and Arts in Basel) in Composition. 

He was awarded a full scholarship as a trained composer at International Young Composers Academy in Ticino Switzerland under the supervision of Oscar Bianchi and Dimitri Kourldianski. Also was one of the finalists of the Jonathan Harvey Award/Scholarship 2020 at Huddersfield University of UK. He is the resident composer at Klangteppich Festival in Berlin 2022 supported by The German Federal Cultural Foundation.

Samsaminia has had the collaborations with the well-known Ensembles such as Klangforum Wien Ensemble, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Ensemble Garage, Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, Trio Estatico (Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Recherche), Trio Saeitenwind, Ljubljana contemporary chamber, KLART Ensemble, EMTA Tallinn Sinfonietta, HSM Symphonic and Opera Orchestra Gothenburg, Hanatsu Miroir Stras- bourg, Łódź Academy Symphony Orchestra, Sepia Ensemble, Omnibus Ensemble, Collettivo_21 and etc. 

His compositions have been selected and performed in numerous festivals such as Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, reMusik, OutHear Festival, Gaudeamus fest, Sound and Images New York, Ticino Musica 2019, Crossroads, Poznań Contemporary, Mixtur Festival, UNM Iceland, Sound of Stockholm, ICMC Korea, Tehran contemporary music festival, Eufonija, Siren Festival Gothenburg, etc. 

He attended in Masterclasses held by Georg Friedrich Haas, Oscar Bianchi, Dimitri Kourldianski, Rebecca Saunders, Karlheinz Essl, Pierluigi Billone ,Alexander Schubert, Tristan Murail, John Chowning, José Sánchez-Verdú, Klaus Lang, Dror Feiler, etc.

His music has been performed in Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Greece, Poland, Iceland, USA, Italy, Finland, Sweden, Spain, Denmark, Serbia, etc.

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Curriculum Vitae

Education:

• 2020-                Ph.D. candidate in Music Composition at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
• 2019                 UDK Berlin University of Arts, Berlin, Germany
• 2018-2019        Gothenburg Academy of Music and Drama, Gothenburg, Sweden
• 2017-2018        Estonian Academy of Music, Master in Composition, Tallinn, Estonia
• 2016-2017        Sibelius Academy of Music, Exchange, Composition, Finland 
• 2012-2016        Tbilisi State Music Conservatoire, Undergraduate student of Music Composition, Georgia
• 2004-2009        Tehran Music School of Sooreh, High School Diploma in Music, Iran

                                        

Scholarships / Certificates :

• 2022 The German Federal Cultural Foundation
• 2020 Finalist of Jonathan Harvey Scholarship 2020, Huddersfield University, UK
• 2019 Erasmus Scholarship, University of Arts in Berlin UDK, Germany
• 2018-2019 Erasmus Scholarship, Gothenburg Academy of Music and Drama, Sweden
• 2017–2018 DoRa+ Scholarship European Regional Investment, Estonian Academy of Music and Theater, Estonia
• 2016 Erasmus+ Award and Scholarship, Sibelius Academy of Music, Finland
• 2016 Lecturer certificate at International Scholarly-Artistic Conference Lòdź Academy of Music, Poland

Official jury member of composition competitions at:

• Guest Lecturer at Elon University of North Carolina 2022, Composition for Piano
• Jury member at Eufonija Festival 2021 Festival for accordion and chamber music, Novi-Sad, Serbia
• Jury member at Gilgamesh Composition competition among the other jury members such as  Du Yun and Thomas Kotcheff
• Jury member, guest composer, and lecturer at Petrichor Records Composition Competition for young composers 2020, among the names like Chaya Czernowin, Katharina Rosenberger, Nina C. Young and etc.
• Main Jury member at Noise A Noise Electronic Record Lable call for artists 2020
• Guest Lecturer at Eufonija Festival 2021, Novi-Sad, Serbia
• Guest Lecturer at Kanch International Music Festival 2021, Yerevan Armenia
• Guest Lecturer at Tehran University of Arts, 2021
• Guest Lecturer at Tehran University Music Department/composition faculty 2018

Commissioned and selected works:

• Commissioned composer at Musica Nova Festival 2023, Veli Kujala (Quarter-tone Accordion) and Ensemble Zagros
• Commissioned composer at Access Contemporary Music of Chicago 2022
• Commissioned composer by Collegium Novum Zurich Ensemble 2022
• Commissioned composer at Eufonija Festival 2022
• Commissioned composer by K!ART Ensemble 2021
• Selected Composer at Nordic Percussion Festival 2021, Aarhus, Denmark
• Commissioned composer by Ensemble Musikfabrik, Germany 2020-2021
• Commissioned composer by Trio Estatico (Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Recherche) 2021, Frankfurt
• Commissioned composer by Musica Al Dente Festival 2021, Moscow, Russia
• Selected/commissioned composer by Ensemble Collettivo_21, Crossroads 2020, Mozarteum University, Salzburg, Austria 2020
• Commissioned composer by Darragh Morgan, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2020, Huddersfield, UK
• Selected composer by Klangforum Wien Ensemble at outHear Music Festival, Greece 2019
• Commissioned/Selected composer by Ensemble Modern at Ticino Musica, Switzerland 2019
• Commissioned composer by K!ART Ensemble, Denmark 2019
• Selected composer by Risuonanze 2019, Udine, Italy
• Selected composer by International Festival for modern art in Odessa, Ukraine, ISCM 2019
• Selected composer by Gdansk Electro-Acoustic Festival 2019
• Commissioned composer by Beethoven Academy in Bonn 2018
• Commissioned composer by Domen Koren (Slovenian Saxophone Player) In cooperation with Ljubljana Academy of Music, Ljubljana 2018
• Selected composer by Fie Schouten’s Trio Project at Gaudeamus Festival 2018
• Commissioned composer by Trio Saeitenwind (Switzerland) for Tehran International Contemporary Music Festival 2018
• Selected composer at Estonian Music Days 2018 , Tallinn Contemporary Sinfonietta 
• Selected/Commissioned composer at MIXTUR 2018 Contemporary Music Festival , Barcelona , Spain
• Composer in residence at Eufonija fest 2018 Contemporary Accordeon Festival , Novi sad, Serbia
• Selected composer/composer in residence by UNM Nordisk Music Festival , Iceland 2017 
• Selected composer by MIXTUR 2017 Contemporary Music Festival , Barcelona,Spain 
• Selected composer by Garage Ensemble’s call for proposal 2017-2018 , Germany/Finland
• Selected composer at ART & SCIENCE DAY 2016 , Bourges , France
• Selected composer at AEPEX CONTEMPORARY PERFORMANCE ,Michigan, USA 
• Selected composer at Garda International Music Masters , Garda, Italy
• Selected composer at UMKC Composition workshop final concert, Kansas Missouri Music Conservatory ,USA

Festivals attendance :

• Musica Nova 2023 Helsinki, Finland
• MUSICA DEL XXI SECOLO, Cremona, Italy 2022
• Access Contemporary Music, Chicago, USA 2022
• Eufonija Festival 2022
• Nordic Percussion Festival 2021 (composer), Aarhus, Denmark
• Unerhörte Musik Festival 2021, Berlin, Germany
• Crossroads 2020, Salzburg Austria
• Musica Al Dente Festival 2021, Moscow, Russia
• Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, UK
• reMusik 2020, St. Petersburg, Russia
• Crossroads 2020, Salzburg, Austria

• Impuls Nue Musik 2019, Germany/Switzerland

• Ticino Musica International Young Composers Academy 2019
• Odessa Festival of Modern Art 2 Days and 2 Nights of New Music 2019
• Ircam Manifeste 2019 (Auditor)
• Siren Festival 2019, Gothenburg, Sweden
• Gaudeamus 2018, Utrecht, Netherlands
• Estonian Music Days 2018, Tallinn, Estonia
• Mixtur 2018 Barcelona, Spain
• Sound of Stockholm 2017 
• UNM Nordisk Music Festival 2017, Reykjavik, Iceland
• Poznań Contemporary Music Festival 2017
• Eufonija Festival 2017 and 2018 Novi Sad, Serbia
• Lerici Music Festival “Suoni Dal Golfo” 2017 Italy
• MIXTURE 2017 Contemporary Music Festival, Barcelona, Spain
• MUTEFEST 2016 Electronic Music Festival, Finland
• Tehran International Contemporary Music Festival 2016 and 2017, Iran 
• Batumi International Contemporary Music Festival 2014, Georgia 
• Yerevan “Perform me” contemporary Music Festival 2014, Armenia

Workshops and Masterclasses participation :

• 2022 MUSICA DEL XXI SECOLO with Frank Bedrossian
• 2021 Zagreb Music Biennale with Alexander Schubert and Raphael Cendo
• 2020 Composition Masterclasses with Oscar Bianchi, Yuri Kasparov, St.petersburg Russia, reMusik Festival
• 2019 Composition Masterclasses with Dimitri Kourldianski, Katharina Rosenberger, Lugano
• 2019 Composition Master Class, Oscar Bianchi,  Barenboim-Said Academy in Berlin - Ticino Musica Festival Lugano 2019
• 2019 Composition Seminar held by Beat Furrer, University of Arts in Berlin 
• 2018 Composition Master Class, Tristan Murail, Rebeca Saunders, Alexander Schubert Barcelona, Spain
• 2017 Composition Master Class , Klaus Lang , Michael Finnissy , Gabriel Prokofiev, Dror Feiler
• 2017 Composition Master Class , Pierluigi Billone , Fabian Panisello, Barcelona,Spain
• 2017 Composition Masterclass, Georg Friedrich Haas, Tallinn Estonia
• 2016 Composition Master Class , Karlheinz Essl , Jose Maria Sanchez Verdu, Daniele Bravi,  Sibelius Academy of Music Finland 
• 2016 Timbral and Spectral music composition, Mauro Montalbetti, Italy
• 2015 Spectral music composition, Manolis Vlitakis from UDK University, Georgia
• 2014 Avant-Gard and Electronic Composition, Francois Bernard Mache, Georgia
• 2014 Electronic and Contemporary Music Notation, George Hajdu, Georgia

Concerts and Performed Compositions (Excerpts) :

• 2023 Nodes and Arcs for Quarter-tone Accordion and Zagros Ensemble, Musica Nova Festival 2023 Helsinki, Finland
• 2022 Neutralization operation inside the Piano, Elon University of North Carolina, USA
• 2022 The Queen Bee, Eufonija Festival, Accordion Concerto for Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra
• 2022  Shifā, Collegium Novum Zurich Ensemble 2022, Switzerland
• 2022 Micromoments VI, loadbang ensemble, New York, USA
• 2021 Micromoments VII, Trio Estatico (Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Recherche), Paris, France
• 2021 Micromoments V, Collettivo_21 Ensemble, Modena Music Festival, Italy
• 2021 Micro-Moments IV, Ensemble Musikfabrik, 2020-2021 project, Germany
• 2020 Micro-Moments III for Collettivo_21 Ensemble, Crossroads 2020, Salzburg
• 2020 Beyond The ASMR, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2020, UK
• 2019 “Gavesht II” for Klangfrorum Wien Ensemble, Commissioned by the OutHear Fest 2019, Greece
• 2019 “Inside The Twisted Mind of The Mr. Sophistication”, Commissioned by K!ART Ensemble, Denmark
• 2019 “The Mechanism of Growth”, Ensemble Modern, Ticino Musica Festival 2019
• 2019 “ElectroSonics” Trio Saeitenwind, Basel and Biel, Switzerland, Impuls Nue Musik 2019
• 2019 “ Mantra” for 5 speakers, Temporeale Festival. Florence, Italy
• 2019 “In Eternity” Live at Latvian Radio Classic, Riga, Latvia 
• 2019 “ Auschwitz : Block 11” ,Concerto for Accordion and Orchestra commissioned by Młodzi nie.poważni Orchestra, Lodz, Poland
• 2018 “ Dido and Aeneas Opera Project”, Gothenburg HSM Opera Orchestra, Conducted by Henryk Schaeffer, Sweden
• 2018 “Human Dignity” for 2 Pianos and Narrator, Performed by Kai Schumacher, Commissioned by Beethoven Academy in Bonn, Germany.
• 2018 “Old Age, Adolescence, and Infancy” for Gaudeamus 2018 Festival in Netherlands, Utrecht
• 2018 “A Piece of Monologue”, For Drum-Set Solo, for Ensemble Garage, Eastman School of Music Audio Research Studio  NewYork , Köln, and Helsinki.
• 2018 “Balkaneh” Commissioned by Eufonija Fest 2018, Novi Sad, Serbia
• 2018 “Rise from the Ashes” Tallinn Sinfonietta , April 2018 , Tallinn Estonia , Estonian Music Days 2018
• 2018 Gravity for Piano and Electronics ,Mixtur Barcelona Festival 2018 , Ricardo Descalzo , Spain Barcelona
• 2018 “Sabā The Wind” for Alto Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra , Slovenian Philharmonic Hall , Ljubljana 
• 2017 “4our” for Saxophone Quartet performed by STOCKHOLM SAXOPHONE QUARTET , Norkoping Sweden
• 2017 “Time , Space and Illusion” for Saxophone and Percussions , Sound of Stockholm
• 2017 “New Miniature” for Soprano Sax and Marimba , Barcelona Mixtur Festival,Spain
• 2017 “ Totally Enigmatic” for Chamber Ensemble , Sepia Ensemble Poland , Tehran
• 2017 “ DreamScapeS” for Baritone Saxophone and Piano , Performed by Linn Persson and Christopher Hatchbacka, Sweden
• 2017 “ SoundScapeS for Solo Accordion , Novi Sad Eufonija Festival 2017 , Serbia
• 2016 “Constructive Imaginary#1” KORVAT AUKI concert series #2 , Helsinki Finland, Lòdź Poland
• 2016 “4our” for Saxophone Quartet performed by STOCKHOLM SAXOPHONE QUARTET , Iran , Tehran
• 2016 “In a trice” performed by Andrea Dinda , Garda International Master Festival , Italy
• 2016 “In Memoriam” for solo Viola , Kansas Missouri conservatory , USA
• 2016 First Premiere of “Metro Project” work in ART & SCIENCE DAYS 2016 Bourges France and Second premiere by AEPEX CONTEMPORARY PERFORMANCE in Michigan USA
• 2015 “ Disabling a bomb inside the Piano” for Piano Solo and 4 performers , Tbilisi Contemporary Ensemble
• 2015 “From east to the west” for String Quartet , Performed by Omnibus Ensemble , Uzbekistan 
• 2015 “Samā” for Persian folk instrument and Laptop Electronics , Performed by Arshia Samsaminia(Setar) Nikoloz Davitashvili (Laptop) , Tbilisi international musicologists festival
• 2015 “Parce Domine” for Septet Ensemble , Performed by Tbilisi Contemporary Music Ensemble 
• 2014 “Gravity” for Electric Guitar and Laptop Electronics , Batumi Contemporary Music Festival , Georgia
• 2013 “In outside” for solo Piano , Performed by Anahit Hakopian, Perform Me Festival , Khachaturian Museum Recital Hall , Yerevan, Armenia

• CD Releases :

• Composer Alive: access contemporary music Chicago, 2022
• Four Decades of Accordion in Łódź, Concerto for accordion and orchestra 2019, ARS-SONORA RECORDS 2020
• New Music in Iran #3, Mahoor Records, 2019 Tehran
• Dialogues (Anthology of Iranian Contemporary Composers, Mahoor Records, 2019 Tehran
• Tehran Contemporary Music Festival VOL.II, 2016 Tehran

Final Research Paper (MA degree in Composition)

• Composing Music Based on Materials from Ethnic Therapeutic Healing Music. University of Gothenburg/Estonian Academy of Music 2019