Bringing Persian and European music together with Arts Council-funded project

Iranian musician and setar player Omid Asghari has been working with members of the Ulster Orchestra for the past few months on a project to create new pieces of music that merge his own Persian musical language with European music.

He is writing a suite of four movements for setar, string quartet and percussion, which will be performed this spring. The project is being funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland under their Minority Ethnic Artists Mentoring & Residency Programme.

Omid is no stranger to the Orchestra, having volunteered for several months at various events and becoming a familiar face around Ulster Orchestra at Townsend. It was during his time here that he was able to attend rehearsals and meet orchestra members, which Omid says led to him developing ‘a profound desire to learn more about the processes of arranging to create settings for my own instrument, the Persian traditional setar, within the context of contemporary Western music.’

Through the project, he aims to ‘use the distinct features of ancient Iranian music to adjust and add different tones, harmonies, and colours to the orchestral tradition’ to introduce audiences to traditional Persian music in an ‘accessible contemporary form.’

Omid is being mentored by Ulster Orchestra Animateur Jonathan Simmance, who has been working with him to explore how his music works with the textures and sounds of orchestral instruments. In January, Omid and Jonathan were joined by string and percussion players from the Orchestra to rehearse and develop draft versions of his music.

‘Our players engaged with Omid to demonstrate their instruments’ capabilities, different techniques of playing and to explore changes to his work to better reflect his intentions,’ said Jonathan. ‘It was a fascinating day for all involved, and has been a huge learning experience for Omid and for me.’

Omid hopes that the skills learned during the project will aid him in developing as a musician, performer and arranger, as well as helping him towards his goal of becoming a musical director working on a range of collaborative projects.

Omid’s music from this project is due to be performed at Ulster Orchestra at Townsend this spring.