Ashkan Behzadi

Ashkan Behzadi (b.1983) is an Iranian–Canadian composer. He earned his DMA in composition at Columbia University where he studied with Fred Lerdahl, George Lewis, and Georg Friedrich Haas. Prior to this, he graduated from McGill University where he finished his bachelor’s degree in composition and music theory. At McGill, he studied composition with Chris Paul Harman, Brian Cherney, and Philippe Leroux. Ashkan also has a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Tehran University, where he took composition and music theory lessons with Alireza Mashayekhi.

Ashkan’s music has been commissioned and performed by various international ensembles, including TAK Ensemble, Oerknal Ensemble, JACK Quartet, Divertimento Ensemble, Ensemble Alternance, Ensemble UnitedBerlin, Yarn/Wire, Ekmeles, Wet Ink, Talea Ensemble and also featured at such festivals and concert series as ACIMC Contemporary Music Festival, Dialoge Festival at Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg, Rondo 2017 in Milan, Manifeste 2014 at IRCAM, and CIRMMT new music series. His music also has won numerous competitions, including Graham Sommer Second Prize, the Prix de Composition at Fontainebleau, and a number of SOCAN Foundation awards. In the 2019–2020 academic year, Ashkan Behzadi has joined the Department of Music of the University of Chicago as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Center for Contemporary Composition.

Photo Credit: Kaveh Kowarsi