Reza Vali Explained

Reza Vali (Persian: رضا والی; born 1952 in Ghazvin) is an Iranian musician and composer.

Reza Vali was born in Iran and studied at the Tehran Conservatory. In 1972, he attended the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, where he studied composition. He later attended the University of Pittsburgh^[1] where he received his PhD in composition and theory. Since 1988 he has been on the Carnegie Mellon University faculty.

He received the Austrian Ministry of Arts and Sciences honor prize and two Andrew W. Mellon Fellowships. He also received commissions from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Kronos Quartet, the Seattle Chamber Players, and the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, as well as grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Pittsburgh Board of Public Education. He was selected by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust as the Outstanding Emerging Artist, for which he received the Creative Achievement Award. Vali's orchestral works have been performed in the United States by the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Baltimore Symphony, the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra 2001. His chamber music has been performed by the Cuarteto Latinoamericano, the Del Sol Quartet, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Kronos Quartet, the Seattle Chamber Players, and the Da Capo Chamber Players.

Works

A list of works can be found at the composer's website https://www.rezavali.com/compositions

Folk Songs series

• Folk Songs Set No. 1, for soprano and piano (1979)
• Folk Songs Set No. 2, for soprano and piano (1981)
• Folk Songs Set No. 5, for soprano, choir, harp, piano and percussion (1984)
• Folk Songs Set No. 7, for voice and chamber orchestra (1986)
• Folk Songs Set No. 8, for voice and ensemble (1989)
• Folk Songs Set No. 9, for flute and cello (1991)
• Folk Songs Set No. 10, for soprano and chamber orchestra (1993)
• Folk Songs Set No. 11A, for four cellos (1995)
• Folk Songs Set No. 11B, for string quartet (1995)
• Folk Songs Set No. 12, for soprano, string quartet and piano (1996)
• Folk Songs Set No. 13, for four cellos (1996)
• Folk Songs Set No. 14, for soprano and chamber orchestra (1998)
• Folk Songs Set No. 15, for flute, clarinet, percussion, violin and cello (1999)
• Folk Songs Set No. 16 The Being of Love, for soprano and orchestra (2005)
• Folk Songs Set No. 17, for clarinet and ensemble (2015)

Calligraphy series

• Calligraphy No. 1, for string quartet (1999)
• Calligraphy No. 2 Zand, for string quartet (1999)
• Calligraphy No. 3, for string quartet (1999)
• Calligraphy No. 4, for persian santoor and string quartet (2001)
• Calligraphy No. 5, for violin or viola (2003)
• Calligraphy No. 6, for string quartet (2006)
• Calligraphy No. 7 Kismet, for three flutes (2007)
• Calligraphy No. 8 Kereshmeh, for six woodwinds and percussion (2007)
• Calligraphy No. 9 Kord, for solo cello (2008)
• Calligraphy No. 10 Khojasteh, for violin and cello (2010)
• Calligraphy No. 11 Gâtâr, for string quartet (2011)
• Calligraphy No. 12 Geryân, for string quartet (2011)
• Calligraphy No. 13 The Ancient Call, for orchestra (2014)
• Calligraphy No. 14, for persian santoor and string quartet (2014)
• Calligraphy No. 15 Raak, for string quartet (2015)
• Calligraphy No. 16 Isfahan, for orchestra (2017)

Orchestral

• Deylámân (1995)
• Ravân (2013)

Concertante

• Four Movements for String Quartet and Orchestra (1993)
• The Dervish and the Magus, for cello and chamber orchestra
• Flute Concerto (1997)
• Concerto for Persian Ney and Orchestra Toward That Endless Plain (2003)
• Double Concerto for Persian Ney, Kamanche, and Orchestra Segâh (2010)

Chamber

• String Quartet No. 1
• String Quartet No. 2 (1991)
• String Quartet No. 3 (2001)
• Love Songs, for piano quartet (2003)
• String Quartet No. 4 Ormavi (2017)

Recordings

• 2019: Longing: Chamber Music of Reza Vali (MSR Classics)
• 2018: The Ancient Call (Albany Records)
• 2015: The Book of Calligraphy (Albany Records)
• 2013: Reza Vali: Towards that Endless Plain (BMOP)
• 2006: Chant and Dance: Works for Chamber Ensemble (Albany Records)
• 2005: Calligraphies: Works for String Quartet (Albany Records)
• 1995: Persian Folklore (New Albion)

See also

• Persian Symphonic Music

External links

• Reza Vali personal website
• Arghonoon Project presented at the Studio for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University

Notes and References

1. (2 May 1983). Kloss plays his own new music, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette