Mazyar Kashian

Mazyar Kashian is a composer whose work interrogates the potential of pitch, from fine inflections and subtle gradations to complex harmonic structures, while exploring form as an emergent property of internal structural logic. His music examines the interplay of pitch, time, and perception.

His compositions have been performed by ensembles including Ensemble Musikfabrik, Leise Dröhnung, Duo Auxesis, and Trio Abstrakt, and presented at international festivals and platforms such as ACHT BRÜCKEN, MaerzMusik (Berliner Festspiele), MUSICA SACRA, TRIETHNÉS Festival, Nacht van de Verbeelding, Festival Contrasti, and Morgenland Festival.

Born in Tehran, Kashian received early training in piano and composition at the Tehran Music Conservatory, alongside studies of the Persian classical Radif repertoire on the kamancheh at the Maktabkhaneh of Mirza Abdollah. He later continued his studies in Cologne at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, where he studied composition with Johannes Schöllhorn, Brigitta Muntendorf, and Miroslav Srnka. His further studies in music theory and musicology have focused on questions of musical form, analysis, and compositional process, including research on György Ligeti’s Hamburg Concerto and comparative analyses of Enno Poppe’s Prozession and Körper. His artistic perspective has also been shaped by masterclasses with Mathias Spahlinger, Georg Friedrich Haas, Simon Steen-Andersen, and Enno Poppe.

Alongside composition, Kashian maintains an active engagement with music theory and archival research. He received a DAAD-funded research residency at the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel, where he investigated the sketch materials and compositional processes of Conlon Nancarrow and Helmut Lachenmann. He lives and works in Cologne.