Hossein Dehlavi

Hossein Dehlavi (Persian: حسین دهلوی) (September 30, 1927 – October 15, 2019) was an Iranian composer.^[1][2]

Hossein Dehlavi
Background information
Born	(1927-09-30)September 30, 1927 Tehran, Persia (now Iran)
Died	October 15, 2019(2019-10-15) (aged 92) Tehran, Iran
Occupation(s)	Professor of composition, conductor
Years active	1948–2019

Biography

Hossein Dehlavi was born in 1927 in Tehran, Iran and started music with his father Moezeddin Emami who was a pupil of master Ali-Akbar Shahnazi. Dehlavi studied composition at the Tehran Conservatory of Music with Hossein Nassehi and Heimo Tauber. He studied Persian music with Abolhasan Saba and, from 1957 to 1967, was the principal conductor of the Persian Fine Arts Administration Orchestra, also known as Saba Orchestra.^[1][3]

Dehlavi began teaching at the Persian National Music Conservatory in Tehran from 1957 and served as its director from 1962 until 1971. The conductor Ali Rahbari was one of his pupils. In 1992, with the cooperation of nearly 70 players of Persian instruments, Dehlavi established the Plectrum Orchestra in Tehran.

His works included several pieces for Persian instruments and orchestra, voice and orchestra, choir and orchestra, and two operas and a ballet. As his contribution to UNESCO's International Year of the Child (1979), he wrote an opera for children called Mana and Mani.

His wife Susan Aslani and his son Houman Dehlavi are also famous musicians.^[4]

Selected Compositions

Chamber Works

• Duo for Santur, 1953
• Plectrum Quartet (Chahar-Navazi-e Mezrabi), 1964

Orchestral Works

• Sabolkbal (Breezy), 1953
• Shushtari, for violin and orchestra, based on a piece by Abolhassan Saba, 1958.
• Concertino for Santur & Orchestra (with Faramarz Payvar), 1958
• Forugh-e Eshgh (Blaze of Love) - 1963
• Sarbaz (Soldier) with choir, 1966.

Opera

• Khosrow and Shirin (based on a romance by the 12th-century Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi, 1970.
• Mana and Mani (for children), 1979.

Ballet

• Bijan & Manijeh ballet (inspired from the National epic of Persia Shahnameh by Ferdowsi) - premiered at Tehran's Rudaki Hall in 1975

Death

On October 15, 2019, Dehlavi died at his home in Tehran after years of battling Alzheimer's disease.^[3]

See also

• Music of Iran
• List of Iranian musicians