Farnaz Modarresifar

«72 cordes, 18 chevalets, une table d’harmonie» (2021)

“ Une promesse finalement tenue: l’invitation faite, en 2020, à Farnaz Modarresifar, compositrice et interprète iranienne, impressionnante de finesse et de maîtrise. Elle revient cette année pour explorer avec nous les mille et une facettes de cet instrument universel, et pourtant mal connu, qu’est le santùr. «72 cordes, 18 chevalets, une table d’harmonie» est une définition technique mais non moins mystérieuse de cet outil musical; elle sonne déjà comme une découverte émouvante pour l’oreille. Le trio ajouté pour l’occasion construit avec lui, au-delà des genres musicaux, une ode à l’improvisation, à la magie facile des rencontres et des évidences.”

Marie Soubestre [Soprano]
Fiona Monbet [Violon]
Sven Riondet [Accordéon]
Farnaz Modarresifar [Santûr]

[La Brèche festival]

Musique : Aurelien Dumont
Santûrs : Farnaz Modarresifar
Moser String Quartet © 2024
Éditions Musicales Artchipel
Commissioned by Maison de la Musique Contemporaine.
Premier in 2024, May 24th at Orangerie du parc de Bagatelle in Paris

"Ludion is a work that explores the gap between its two definitions. The first refers to the Etruscan dancers and jugglers who came to Rome in the fourth century. The second refers to a device whose written records date back to the seventeenth century and which was used in physics to demonstrate the compressibility of air. This device is also known as Descartes' devil, because Descartes used figures in the shape of imps to illustrate the principle that, in response to the pressure exerted, these strange beings rise or fall inside the flask. I realised that two of the Tarot's major arcana corresponded to these two terminologies: the bateleur (card I) and the diable (card XV). I was then inspired by a recent engraved version of the deck, created in 2020 by Thomas Perino and his interpretations written by Aurélien Lemant, who considers the figure of the bateleur to be that of a child discovering the world, and the Devil card to be that of one who sees it from the other side. Two santûrs, with 9 and 12 bridges, are used to create the metaphorical space of the two cards. The writing on the strings is in constant interaction with the theatrical proposals of the santûr, embellished with a few accessories thrown in alongside the strings of the Persian instrument, such as playing dice or cards. The formal path of the piece leads us from play to introspection, from fragmented relationships to sonic concentration, from the exposure of a material to its reverse. In order to materialise the physical principle of the ludion, certain parts are written with interdependent pairs of bow pressure and note pitches. Through these various formal and symbolic focuses, Ludion attempts to construct an imaginary sound that continuously explores the tensions linked to lexical polysemy."

Festival Singer-Polignac 2024

Maroussia Gentet et Matvey Zheleznyakov proposent un programme pour piano à quatre mains alternant des œuvres de Philippe Schoeller, de Farnaz Modarresifar écrites pour le Collectif G et des pièces du répertoire récent. Questionnant l’interaction entre les interprètes et le rapport au mouvement, ils proposent au public une remise en perspective de l’écoute gestuelle et musicale.

Au programme : Farnaz Modarresifar (née en 1989) Balades oniriques (extrait) (commande du Collectif G) : 29':45"

En Crépuscule (2019)
Performed by Kelariz Keshavarz
World Premier Choreographed
Feb. 28, 2020, Salt Lake City, Utah

Iranian New Waves is a unique project presenting more than fifty compositions of new flute music by contemporary Iranian composers.

Kelariz Keshavarz [flute]
Farnaz Modarresifar [composer]

Voices of Women Residency Royaumont Abbey | France (2020)

The Vocalizing Pianist: The Voices of Women is an ongoing project of the Japanese pianist/multimedia artist, Michiko Saiki. It aims to develop the genre of the vocalizing pianist through collaborations between Michiko Saiki) and female-identifying composers. This project attempts a musical application of the poststructural feminist concept of “l’écriture féminine.” The composers are encouraged to explore their own unique mode of expression by connecting the compositional theme to their subjectivity, body, and personal experiences. The ultimate goal of this project is to collect many compositions that are written in this manner and publish those pieces as an anthology. This model follows the style of feminist ethnography.

Michiko Saiki [Piano]
Farnaz Modarresifar [Santûr]