The first international Tehran Contemporary Music Festival (TCMF) will be held in Tehran during April 22-29, 2016.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Iran Daily, Navid Gohari, the fest’s art director, said since late November 2015, Iran’s Contemporary Music Center has been set up, under the supervision of Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMCA), to organize the event.

“The center is focused on contemporary music’s latest developments in and the world.”
During the past few decades, Gohari said, prominent musicians have entered the genre of contemporary music and have acquired a good international reputation and status.

“This is while contemporary music has not garnered sufficient attention in Iran. It involves scientific, serious and academic genres of music which are performed employing innovative techniques and instruments.”

This genre was created in the second half of the 20th century and still enjoys great popularity, he noted.
Although contemporary music expresses classic music in a new language, it is not necessarily composed of the latter.
“The genre also comprises that part of traditional Persian music which has serious and scientific foundations.”
The fest’s art director said contemporary music has its own bases, techniques and aesthetic criteria, adding the genre is quite important in the fields of sociology and philosophy.
The genre has a close relationship with contemporary people’s lives and contextually articulates their concern.
“That is why it is quite comprehensible to present day people.”

Initially, 114 domestic music groups and ensembles from Tehran and other provinces registered to take part in the festival, which is completely non-competitive, of which 32 have qualified for performing in the event, Gohari said.

He added the fest’s national section will feature performances by three generations of Iranian composers and musicians involved in Persian modern and contemporary music.
“A total of 11 artists from Sweden, Belgium, Poland, Romania, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Austria will stage 14 performances in the festival,” he concluded.
The festival is organized by the Music Office of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, TMCA, Roudaki Foundation, Iranian Artist Forum, Institute of Contemporary Art, Spectro Center, Afra Kelk Aseman Cultural Art Institute and Lajevardi Foundation.

The fest will be held at TMCA, Roudaki Foundation and Iranian Artist Forum concurrently.
The first edition of the festival will include three sections. The first section will involve stage performances by Iranian and international with solos, duets, orchestra, and chorus.

The second section will feature musical improvisation, aiming to establish artistic and cultural interactions between those who are enthusiastic in the field.
The third section comprises a number of meetings and research presentations to study contemporary music, analyze its history and present and analyze pieces by Iranian and international composers.