Siavash Karami — public CV

Setar performer, music educator, and researcher in Iranian classical music, with around three decades of musical practice since 1996 and more than twenty years of teaching experience. My work includes solo and ensemble performance, the Iranian radif and repertoire, educational leadership, and practice-based research.

• M.A. in Iranian Music Performance

  University of Art, Tehran

  2021

• B.Sc. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering

  Islamic Azad University

  2009

• Massoud Shaari

  Approximately ten years of study of the Iranian radif and classical repertoire from 2000; performance experience with the Hamsaz Ensemble.

• Mohammad-Reza Lotfi

  Approximately six years in the specialist class of the Mirza Abdollah School, studying the complete radif and Iranian classical repertoire.

• Dariush Pirniakan

  Two to three months around 2006–2007, followed by approximately two years during university; several dastgahs from Ali-Akbar Shahnazi's advanced radif.

• University and shorter courses

  Mohammad-Ali Kiani-Nejad, Houman Asadi, Babak Khazraii, Sasan Fatemi, Reza Parvizzadeh, Hossein Alizadeh, Dariush Talai, Keyvan Saket, and Behdad Babaii.

• Hamsaz Ensemble

  Numerous concerts in Tehran and other Iranian cities during the period of study and collaboration with Massoud Shaari.

• Mahtab Ensemble

  Numerous concerts, including appearances at the Fajr Music Festival.

• Performance with the Tehran Symphony Orchestra

  Concert experience performing on the setar with the Tehran Symphony Orchestra.

• Founder and director, Saba Setar Ensemble

  Concerts in Tehran and several other Iranian cities; Dar Baharan was one outcome of the ensemble’s work.

• Dar Baharan

  Joint artistic direction and performance.

  2021

• Ghoroub / Sunset — Massoud Shaari

  Setar performer and ensemble musician with the Hamsaz Ensemble.

  2011

• Founder and director, Sarang Music School, Tehran

  Approximately five years of management and teaching, including organising classes and workshops and hosting courses led by invited teachers.

• Private and ensemble teaching

  More than twenty years of teaching setar, tar, radif, repertoire, improvisation, and performance practice.

M.A. thesis: An Analytical Study of Abolhasan Saba's Improvisations: A Case Study of the Album “Setar Performances by Abolhasan Saba” (University of Art, Tehran, September 2021). Every track on the album was fully transcribed and notated before the performances were analysed. Theoretical supervisor: Mahmoud Balandeh. Practical supervisor: Massoud Shaari.

• Iranian radif and dastgah studies
• Oral transmission and pedagogy
• Embodied and tacit knowledge
• Improvisation and phrasing
• Comparative performance analysis
• Digital ethnomusicology
• Structured cultural documentation

• Grade-One Professional Membership

  Iran Music House.

• Second Prize in setar performance

  Iran National Festival of Young Music.

  2007

Professional software development for database-driven web applications, including structured data modelling, REST APIs, SQL, PostgreSQL, application workflows, and modern front-end development. This experience supports the organisation and documentation of research material.

• Persian (native)
• English
• Turkish
• German