Up-and-coming pianist Mahya Mahmooni bridges the rich traditions of Western classical music and her native Persian heritage in a special concert for the Festival of Chichester.
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00:00Good morning. My name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers and also Chairman of the Festival of Chichester.
00:08And in both capacities, it's lovely to speak to Mahia.
00:11And now you are bringing a fantastic concert to this year's Festival of Chichester.
00:16It's in the Chapel of the Ascension at the University of Chichester, Chichester, on Monday, June the 16th at 7pm.
00:23And in this, you're going to be, well, it says you're going to be bridging the rich traditions of Western classical music and Persian heritage.
00:31And that's so interesting, isn't it? That Persian heritage, you are Iranian.
00:35Yes, yes. I come from Iran. I did my master's degree here and I just graduated.
00:42And now I'm working for Western Six Music as a teacher and I do some other, like, self-employed things around.
00:54And so, yeah.
00:56Absolutely. You work with a lot of Iranian composers, don't you?
01:01And that's some of the music that you were bringing across.
01:04Yes. So this idea came from when I was in Iran doing my undergrads and I had some composer friends who wanted their pieces to be premiered and recorded.
01:18So we started this project with one of my, like, there were a couple of people, but this thing, which is an ongoing project, comes from my club Russian with Mohamed Ali Salahi.
01:33He is the composer based in Tehran now. And we recorded one of his pieces for his new album, and that will be published by next year.
01:45And so I had this idea to share Persian music to non-Iranian people who might find interesting.
01:58And then so I'll be premiering some new pieces by other composers.
02:05I take the project and then I collaborate with them.
02:09And anyone who wants to share their pieces to me, they ask.
02:16It sounds a lovely idea. And presumably we don't need any prior knowledge.
02:20You just come along with an open mind and enjoy, I guess.
02:23Yes, exactly. Yeah, yeah. And then I started this thing in a concert at City University of London.
02:33We had a lunchtime concert with four Iranian women playing some Persian music.
02:40And the concert was held by Ladan Nushin. She is the faculty member of City University.
02:51And so, yeah, that was like a celebration of Persian composers.
02:57And then I premiered the first work of Mohamed Ali in that concert.
03:02And this is the second one that I'm going to be premiered.
03:06Fantastic. Well, it sounds a lovely prospect.
03:08It's great to have you as part of the festival.
03:10You will have to keep coming back all the time you're in Chichester.
03:13Sure I will. Yeah, yeah.
03:14Actually, my idea is to make this as a concert series.
03:20So I want to share new works from new composers.
03:27And then actually, I've got an author from a new composer who actually told me if it's possible to take part in the next year's festival.
03:39Prima, his work. And I'm, yeah, I'm really happy to do that.
03:44Fantastic. Well, you must. Lovely to speak to you and enjoy being part of the festival.
03:50Thank you so much. I'm glad. Thanks.