Amir Eslami was born in Esfahan, Iran, in 1971, and has been playing the Ney since 1987. He received his BA in music in 1997 and an MA in music composition in 2003. Amir has been a faculty member in the Music Faculty of the Art University of Tehran from 2005 to 2018. He has won three national prizes and three international prizes (Italy, Australia, and Netherlands) in music composition. He has released four music albums as a composer and more than ten music albums as a Ney (Persian Traditional Flute) player. His most recent album, “All of You”, was released in 2011. It received a four out of five-star rating in Song Lines Magazine, volume 75, in London in 2011. Amir presented a lecture recital titled “A New Approach to Improvisation in Persian Music” based on this album at the University of London in 2010 and at Cambridge University in 2011. He received the “Best Lecturer” award from the Music Faculty of the Art University of Tehran in 2008 and the “Best Researcher” award in 2009. He was a jury member in the “2 Agosto International Composition Competition” in Bologna in 2012. Amir’s pieces have been performed in Iran, Italy, Australia, USA, Netherlands, and Canada.
He immigrated to Vancouver from February 2015 and started to work on Co-Op Radio for 1 year as a volunteer to present Persian music and literature. He established Vancouver Iranian Choir with a group of musicians in 2016 in North Vancouver which now has 50 singers. Amir established his own record company “Rumi Records” in 2016 in Vancouver and he published his first album (Of String’s Song and Reed’s Cry) in in 2017 and the second one (Reyhan) in 2018 by his company Rumi Records. His piece “Azeri Dances” was performed by Ambleside Symphony Orchestra in 2016. The last performance of his pieces is “Ghalandar” by Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra in 2018. He established Iranian Music Society of BC (IMSBC) with a group of musicians in 2018 in Vancouver. Also, Amir established Hazar Ava Ensemble with 3 female singers which its first album is “The Secret of Nightingale’s Song” in September 2019 by Rumi Records. In 2020 by starting the pandemic around the world, he started online classes with Vancouver Iranian Choir and produced 8 music videos. The newest album is “The Memory of a Sweetheart” based on poems from Dr. Mehdi Meshgini will be published in 2021 by Rumi Records.
Awards & Honors
1. First Grade Companion with Foozhan Ensemble, at the 1st World music Festival, Ney player: Amir Eslami, Tehran (1998)
2. First Grade Iranian Ensemble, the 4th Festival of Nationwide Students of Music, Tehran University of Technology, Leader and composer: Amir Eslami, Tehran (2003)
3. Commendation Tablet, the 5th Nationwide Students’ Festival, Tehran (2004)
4. The Best Lecturer in Music Faculty, Art University, Tehran (2008)
5. Third Prize in Composition, the Olympic Song Composition Competition, Iran Olympic Academy, Tehran (2008)
6. First Prize of International Composition Competition 2 Agosto, Bologna, Italy (2009)
7. The Best Researcher in Music Faculty, Art University, Tehran (2009)
8. Third Prize of International Composition Competition Shakuhachi Chamber Music, Melbourne, Australia (2010)
9. The 4 Stars for “All of You” (Music Album) in “Song lines Magazine” Volume 75, London (2011)
10.The member of jury meeting in the international composition competition “2 Agosto”, 18th Edition from Friday June 15 to Sunday June 17 (2012)
11. The faculty member and composition teacher in the 20th Anniversary “Ameropa solo master classes and chamber music festival and courses” in Prague, Czech, from 20th July to 10th August (2013)
12. Honorable mention; work recommended for recording during the Atlas Academy Composition Competition for Piece for Dialogue among Cultures, Atlas Academy, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2014)
13. The member of Book Council in Tehran Art University (2014)
14. The member of jury meeting in the composition competition “Ahmad Pejman Biennial Composition Contest“, 1st Edition, Tehran, Iran (2015)
15. The music producer in “Aram-e Jan” radio program in Vancouver Co-op radio, Vancouver, Canada (2015)
16. The Board of Vancouver Iranian Choir, Vancouver, Canada (2016)
17. The Board of Iranian Music Society of BC, Vancouver, Canada (2018)