Nilou Nour | Composer Pianist

Learn more about Academy Second Modernism HERE

On May 3rd, Kronos Quartet reunited with Jeffrey Zeigler for a one-night only performance at National Sawdust, dedicated to compositions that “Awaken the Future” including the world premiere of “For Love Seemed East at First” composed by Niloufar Nourbakhsh.

For Love Seemed Easy at First, commissioned in celebration of National Sawdust’s 10th season for the remarkable Kronos Quartet and Jeffrey Zeigler, began as a tribute to the community that National Sawdust has cultivated—a creative home that has embraced not only my work but the voices of many musicians and artists who, like me, have found a kind of family within its walls.

As I began composing, the piece organically shifted into a more intimate exploration of family itself—of the bonds that hold, fray, and stretch across distance and time. Since the passing of my mother in 2019, the relationships within my family have undergone profound changes. Now dispersed across three continents, we continue to navigate how to remain connected and whole despite our separation.

In the final movement, I collaborated closely with Roxanne Nesbitt in building a motorized wheel bow as a metaphor for the fragile and deliberate effort to gather what remains.

The title, For Love Seemed Easy at First, is a literal translation of the opening line of a ghazal by the 14th-century Persian mystic poet Hafez. It is also the name of our family’s WhatsApp group chat—a humble but enduring thread that ties us together.

Segment is now available from WISN 12 feature on ‘Concert for Peace’. Niloufar joined conductor and artistic director David Bloom in discussing her large ensemble work ‘C Ce See’, performed by Present Music in Wisconsin.

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More Information can be found HERE.

Knell was warmly received by audiences and critics following the performances by the Orchestre de Paris this past October.

Review from Le Monde

Find out more information about upcoming performances of KNELL at Oxingale.

As Bristol Beacon’s Orchestra in Residence the BSO is delighted to be performing a BBC Proms performance, with a concert featuring Tchaikovsky’s heart-on-sleeve Symphony No. 5, alongside Jennifer Higdon’s flamboyant Percussion Concerto with soloist Evelyn Glennie.

The concert opens with a little-known gem of Ukrainian music. Feodor Akimenko was born in Kharkiv in 1876, going on to teach Igor Stravinsky before writing his beautiful ‘Poème-Nocturne’ Angel in 1912. The BSO’s Ukrainian Chief Conductor (and Akimenko aficionado) Kirill Karabits conducts it here as a prelude to American composer Jennifer Higdon’s exuberant Percussion Concerto, played by Evelyn Glennie, and Tchaikovsky’s evocative Symphony No. 5.

Knell by Iranian composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh offers a glance back to Akimenko’s Angel in its momentary, symbolic plea for peace.

This concert is available to stream until the end of September. You can click HERE to listen.

The Guardian  **** “a celebratory occasion was also a deeply thoughtful one”. 

The Times  **** “…impassioned, exhilaratingly fast at times, ever-shifting between light and shade. This was Kirill Karabits final performance as chief conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and his musicians did him proud.”

Award-winning Iranian-American composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh wrote that her difficult, affecting piece Aid for Sex was inspired by a 2018 U.N. report that explored how aid workers will help Syrian refugees with one hand and exploit them with the other. The piece, Nourbakhsh wrote, features a chaotic soundscape — emblematic of the environment in which refugees live — that develops into something more harmonious by the end.

Read More about the Festival HERE

Composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh and the Emruz Festival 2024’s “Whispers of the Flesh” informs the mind through the difficult means of the body, transcending music and text in solidarity with “Woman, Life, Freedom” to be felt for generations to come.

Read Emruz Festival review by Jennifer Pyron for Opera Wire HERE

Composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh joined the American Composers Orchestra last month as a mentor for the EarShot Readings alongside composers  Marcos Balter, and Curtis Stewart.

June 13, 2024

Neidorff-Karpati Hall, Manhattan School of Music, New York City, NY

American Composers Orchestra, Conductor: Delta David Gier

Featured Artists and Works

‍Malachi Brown: Statements- a journal entry

‍Samuel Torres Frailejón

‍Sofía Scheps: Demografía acústica: % / Acoustic Demography: %)

‍Anuj Bhutani: After the Freeze

‍Madeline Merwin: Dirty Ice

‍Eunsung Kim*: Kaleidoscope for Orchestra

Read More HERE

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/902315926

Produced and broadcasted by NRK
Composed by Niloufar Nourbakhsh
2023 Peace Prize Concert, a tribute to Narges Mohammadi