Chetham's School of Music

Grand Maestro Hossein Alizadeh is one of Iran’s most celebrated and popular musicians of the past half century and is generally regarded as a father figure of Iranian classical music. 

Maestro Hossein Alizdeh is by far Iran’s most iconic and prolific musician of the past century, with an astonishing list of publications, compositions, and teaching material.

Accompanying Maestro Hossein Alizadeh, in a unique programme encompassing Nava’s most well-known music series “Ancient Roots, New Leaves” and “Echoes of Silence”, will be the eight-member ensemble of young virtuoso musicians, including two vocalists. 

The Hamavayan Ensemble accompanying grand Maestro Hossein Alizadeh on this tour, are justifiably considered amongst Iran’s most talented group of young musicians and vocalists, each one a master musician in his or her own right. 

Ancient Roots, New Leaves is a series of programmes initiated by Nava Arts in the 1980s, symbolising the authentic teaching in the oral music traditions, passing the culture from master to student, firstly through years of rigorous training and finally by live performances. Due to social, political and economic challenges of the past four decades such performances are indeed very rare and historically extremely significant. 

Echoes of Silence is another series of events initiated by Nava Arts in the 1980s, following the imposed ban on female voices in Iran, celebrating the essential role of female vocalists in classical Iranian music. 

ABOUT NAVA ARTS

Nava Arts, founded by the grand masters of Iranian classical music in 1985, has been the principal promoter of classical and regional Iranian music of the highest standards in Europe and the UK. 

The UK events have been predominantly hosted at major London venues such as the Southbank Centre, the Barbican Centre, Cadogan Hall, St. John’s Smith Square as well as Edinburgh’s Usher Hall. Nava Arts has also been the resident ensemble at BBC Radio 3’s week of improvised music of the world. 

Nava Arts is currently collaborating with the School of Oriental and African Studies of London University (SOAS) as well as York’s Early Music Centre, on the extensive Maqam Beyond Nations project, featuring some of the world’s finest master musicians from Central Asia.