Hormoz Farhat

Hormoz Farhat (Persian: هرمز فرهت) Born 1929 Tehran, is a composer, ethnomusicologist and Emeritus Professor of Music, Dublin University, Trinity College and a Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin.^[1]

Hormoz Farhat

Background information
Born	1929
Origin	Tehran, Iran
Genres	Classical music Contemporary Music
Occupation(s)	Composer, ethnomusicologist, professor of music

He received a BA in music from the University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA (1953), an MA in composition from Mills College, California (1955) and a PhD in composition and ethnomusicology from UCLA (1965). He studied composition with Darius Milhaud, Lukas Foss, and Roy Harris.

During his years in California Farhat worked first as an Assistant Professor of Music at California State University, Long Beach (1961–64) and then as Associate Professor of Music at University of California, Los Angeles (1964–69).

On returning to Iran^[2] he was a Professor and Head of Music Department at University of Tehran,^[3] (1970–78) as well as the Head of Music Council in the National Iranian Radio and Television Network (1969–78) and Shiraz Arts Festival. He was Vice-Chancellor at Farabi University in Tehran (1975–77). In 1972 and 1973 he was invited as a visiting professor of music to Harvard University.

Farhat moved to Northern Ireland in 1979 as a Senior Research Fellow at Queen's University, Belfast and then to the Republic of Ireland as the Chair, Professor and Head of School of Music in Trinity College, University of Dublin, (1981–95).^[4] He has been a guest lecturer at numerous institutions including universities of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana; Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Durham, Amsterdam, Koln, Warsaw, Ljubljana, Copenhagen, Stockholm and The Smithsonian Institution^[5] in Washington DC. He has been the external examiner, at University of Durham School of Music (1991–1994) and Royal Irish Academy of Music (2001–2004 and 2011–2014).

His compositions have been performed widely by, among many others, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and English Chamber Orchestra^[6] and most recently by the pianist Soheil Nasseri in Carnegie Hall and Merkin Hall in New York^[7] as well as in Strathmore Music Center.^[8]

Hormoz Farhat is married to the academic philosopher Maria Baghramian.

Selected compositions

For orchestra:

Sinfonia Concertante for Seven Solo Instruments, Soprano and Orchestra.
Mazandarani, a Rhapsody for Orchestra.
Theme and Variations.
Sinfonietta.
Three Songs of Sa'di for Soprano and Orchestra.
Fantasy and Fugue for String Orchestra.
Concerto Grosso for Piano and string Orchestra.
Flute Concerto.
Clarinet Concerto.
Sougue, Elegy for Orchestra.
Nouveau Rivage and La Nuit Eternelle, 2 orchestral pieces after the poem 'Le Lac' of Alphonse de Lamartine.^[9]

Chamber music:

6 String Quartets; 3 Wind Trios; Duo for Violin and Viola; Divertimento for Saxophone Quartet; Piano Quintet; Partita for Wind Quintet.

For piano:

Theme and Variations; Persian Suite, (4 pieces); 2 Sonatas;^[10] Four sets of Suites; Four Concert Etudes; 24 Essays; Five Bagatelles.

Vocal music:

Two Songs on Poems by Sa'di for Soprano, Violin and Harp, 1957.
Be Yad-e Neyshapur, a Chain of Seven Songs on Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, 1959.
Three Persian Songs for Soprano, Flute, Cello and Piano, 1962.
Several pieces for a-cappella choir.

Motion picture scores:

Scores for feature films by prominent Iranian film directors Dariush Mehrjui: Gaav (The Cow-1969), Postchi (Postman), and Aagha-ye Haaloo (Mr. Naive-1970) and, Nasser Taghvai: Aaraamesh dar hozoor-e digaraan (Tranquility in the Presence of Others- 1972), and Saadegh Kordeh (Sadeq the Kurdish- 1973). In 1970, Farhat was awarded The Golden Plaque for Best Music for the score of Mehrjui's internationally acclaimed film Gaav.^[11]

Selected publications

Books:

Divertimento for Saxophone Quartet. Leblanc Music Publishers, Chicago, 1966.
The Traditional Art Music of Iran. Ministry of Culture and Arts Press, Tehran, 1973.
Counterpoint. University of Tehran Press, Tehran, 1974.
The Dastgah Concept in Persian Music. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 1990.^[12]
Dastgah dar Musiqi-ye Irani, (a Persian translation by Mehdi Pur-Mohammad of The Dastgah Concept in Persian Music^[13]), Part Press, Tehran 2002.

Selected Articles:

Old and New Values in Changing Cultural Patterns, Iran: Past. Present and Future. Aspen Institute, 1976.^[14]
64 articles in the Persian encyclopaedia, Daerattomaaref -e Farsi. Tehran, 1976.
The article on Iran in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, MacMillan, London, 1980.
Scales and Intervals: Theory and Practice, Irish Musical Studies, G. Gillen and H. White, (eds.), Irish Academic Press, Dublin 1990.
Ten articles in Encyclopaedia Iranica, E. Yarshater, ed.
Western Influences on Persian Music, Muzikolski Zbornik (Musicological Annual) XVII, Ljubljana, 1991.
The Evolution of Style and Content in Performance Practices of Persian Traditional Music, Muzikoloski Zbornik (Musicological Annual) XXXIII, Ljubljana, 1997.^[15]
Music, a critical review of all articles on music in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Iranian Studies, 1998.^[16]
7 articles in the second edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, MacMillan, London, 2001.

References

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Hormoz Farhat

Selected compositions

Selected publications

See also

References