Pooria Pournazeri

Beginning his initiation into tanbur (Kurdish lute) at age six, Pooria Pournazeri’s musical education includes both traditional Persian and Kurdish repertoires, which he studied with his uncle Keykhosrow Pournazeri, a teacher of Sufi music. After studying thousand-year-old masterpieces, he composed his first work at 14, and at 16, he performed in the Fajr International Music Festival competition in Tehran, where he won third place. In 2009, he established Rivaan Ensemble in Tehran with his students and Iranian music masters to record Make the Earth Peaceful for the UN’s Act on Climate Change project.