Explorations of Traditional Arab and Persian Music

Esfandiar Shahmir is a world class ney and daf player. Born in Tehran (Iran) Esfandiar originally studied theatre and developed a love of Persian music. This led him to form a band with singer, poet and composer Parvaz Homay which became the renowned Persian music ensemble, Homay & Mastan. Since 2004, Esfandiar has recorded many albums with this ensemble and toured around Iran and internationally including Canada, the USA, Europe and Africa. Esfandiar has also performed with UNESCO award winning Azerbaijani musician, Alim Qasimov.

Leader of The Awakenings Ensemble, Michael Pignéguy is a composer and performer who has worked extensively within the fields of jazz, orchestral and world music. He balances commissions by orchestras from around the world with his own projects which have seen him perform in USA, Italy, Australia, Africa, Malaysia, Singapore, The United Arab Emirates, Qatar and New Zealand. He also leads world music act The Awakenings Ensemble in performances in USA (Jazz at Lincoln Center), the Middle East, Asia and around Australia.

Steve Richter is an Australian freelance musician who has been highly active in the Western Australian arts scene for the past 25 years. He has diverse performance and composition experience, and plays regularly as a multi-instrumentalist (percussion, electronics, vibraphone, drums, keyboards and Latin percussion) having performed approximately 3,500 shows in multiple countries—encompassing world music, pop, orchestral, rock, and his own compositions and improvisations.

Steve has performed with the Perth Symphony, Synergy, Christine Anu, Yothu Yindi, Greg Sheehan and the WA Symphony amongst others.