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Proudly Presents

Maestro Shardad Rohani’s

The Inaugural Concert

Sunday, July 14 - 7:30PM

Featuring

Cyrus Forough

Violin Soloist

Join us for the inaugural concert of the new
ROUDAKI ORCHESTRA
comprised of forty incredible musicians and the
AVA CHOIR
all under the direction of
Maestro
SHARDAD ROHANI

At the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music’s
SCHOENBERG HALL

As the founder and artistic director, it is my great pleasure to introduce the newly formed Roudaki Orchestra to Southern California.

Named after the renowned ninth-century Iranian poet, singer, and musician Roudaki—celebrated as the "father of Persian poetry"—the orchestra honors his legacy and the cultural heritage he represents. The name also evokes the splendid Roudaki Hall, built by Eugene Aftandilian and modeled after the Vienna Opera House. Inaugurated by their Majesties Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Farah Pahlavi in 1967, Roudaki Hall brought classical music to Iran on a stage comparable to the great venues of Europe and the world.

My vision for the Roudaki Orchestra is to celebrate the rich musical traditions of Iran by performing works from both past and contemporary Iranian composers. Additionally, we aim to educate and inspire a new generation of musicians by introducing them to classical music and providing opportunities for underrepresented communities and individuals to play in a professional ensemble.

As we say in our beautiful language:
برگ سبزیست تحفه درویش
(A green leaf is a humble gift).

Shardad Rohani

 About Shardad Rohani

Conductor and composer Shardad Rohani was born in Tehran and educated at the Music Academy and Conservatory of Music in Vienna, Austria. Rohani formally served as the musical director and principal conductor of the Tehran Symphony from 2016 to 2020. The resurrection of the symphony in the early 2000s has been instrumental in connecting Tehran to the international arts community, including recent collaborations with noted conductors such as Riccardo Muti. In addition to his role as director of the Tehran Symphony (2016-2020), Rohani wrote and performed the anthem for the Iran National Soccer team’s appearance during the World Cup in 2018. He was also commissioned to compose the music for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 13th Asian Olympic Games held in Thailand.

An acclaimed composer and conductor, Rohani has worked with some of the top ensembles in the world including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, the Austrian Chamber Orchestra and the London Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. He captured the attention of audiences around the world as the conductor, arranger and performer for the open-air concert “Yanni Live at the Acropolis,” the second-best selling music concert video of all time. The show was simultaneously televised all around the world; more than 500 million people watched the live concert in 65 countries. His most recent project is the “Sinus Persicus Suite,” originally recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Voices at Abbey Road Studios. Over the past year, the “Sinus Persicus Suite” has been performed throughout Europe and the United States. Rohani has been the recipient of several important scholarships and awards both in Europe and the United States, including the A.K.M Scholarship (Vienna, Austria), the ASCAP Scholarship (Los Angeles, Calif.) and the Jerry Fielding Award for film composers. His recording of classical masterpieces, including all of Tchaikovsky’s ballets, have received rave reviews by Japan’s In Tune magazine.

About Cyrus Forough 

Cyrus Forough is noted for the “fiery intensity” and “poetic vision” of his playing. Critic Donald Isler praised his performance of Beethoven Sonata No. 7 in August 2016 as “a very fine performance of a great work,” highlighting his “great flair and stylistic understanding.” In July 2015, Jim Lowe commended his performance of Debussy’s Violin Sonata, noting Forough's "warm sound and deft technique" and his ability to deliver Debussy’s mix of Romanticism and Impressionism.

A laureate of the Tchaikovsky International Competition, first prizewinner of the Milwaukee Symphony Violin Competition, and finalist in the Munich International Violin Competition, Forough has performed internationally on radio and television, and for international dignitaries. Along with his wife, Steinway Artist Carolyn McCracken, he won the United States Artistic Ambassador Program's National Duo Competition, representing the U.S. in the Far East and South America. They have performed in prestigious venues such as the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Phillips Collection, and the Kennedy Center. Forough holds the World Academy of Arts, Literature, and Media Award for his contributions to classical music and education.

Forough is an active performer of contemporary music. He premiered the Shostakovich First Violin Concerto with the Milwaukee Symphony under Paul Polivnick and performed Lutosławski's Chain 2 with the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic under Ronald Zollman in 2010. Alireza Mashayekhi has dedicated several compositions to him, including his fourth and fifth violin concertos. Forough recorded Mashayekhi’s fourth violin concerto with the Ukraine National Symphony in 2016 and premiered the fourth sonata in 2017 at the ISSUE Project Room in Brooklyn, NY. He will be recording all five of Mashayekhi's sonatas. Other composers who have dedicated works to him include Reza Vali and Alan Fletcher.

Forough studied in three major international cultural centers with legendary violin masters, representing the Franco-Belgian school of violin playing. He began his studies with his mother, a graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, and at age nine, studied with Arthur Grumiaux at the same conservatory. He later studied with David Oistrakh and Oleh Krysa in Moscow, and with Josef Gingold at Indiana University.

Forough is also a dedicated teacher, having been a Professor of Violin at Carnegie Mellon University and a visiting professor at the Eastman School of Music. He has taught and performed at festivals in over twenty countries, and his students have won national and international competitions and joined professional orchestras worldwide. Collaborating with luthiers the Rezvani brothers, he helped create the PinkyHold for children and the shoulder rest “Performa.”