Niloufar Nourbakhsh

Described as “darkly lyrical” by the New York Times and “séduisante” by Le Monde, Iranian-American composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh is an awardee of 2023 Chamber Music America Commissioning Grant, a winner of 2022 Beth Morrison Projects Next Generation competition, and a 2019 recipient of Opera America Discovery Grant and National Sawdust’s Hildegard Commission Award. Her orchestral work Knell was performed at the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony by the Norwegian Radio Orchestra.

Nourbakhsh’s music has been commissioned and performed by Kronos Quartet, L’Orchestre de Paris, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra,  Nashville Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic musicians, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Library of Congress, National Sawdust, International Contemporary Ensemble, Loadbang Ensemble, I-Park Foundation, Camerata Pacifica, Shriver Hall Series, Center for Contemporary Opera, New Music USA, Women Composers Festival of Hartford, PUBLIQuartet, Forward Music Project, Calidore String Quartet, Cassatt String Quartet, Akropolis Reed Quintet, and Ensemble Connect at numerous festivals and venues including Carnegie Hall, Washington Kennedy Center, Mostly Mozart Festival, BBC Proms, Ojai Festival, Seal Bay Festival of American Chamber Music, and many more. A founding member and co-director of Iranian Female Composers Association, Nilou is a strong advocate of music education and equal opportunities. She currently teaches theory and composition at Longy School of Music of Bard College and Berklee College of Music. Nilou also regularly performs with her ensemble, Decipher.

Nilou is a music graduate and a Global Citizen Scholarship recipient of Goucher College as well as a Mahoney and Caplan Scholar from University of Oxford. Among her teachers are Lisa Weiss, Kendall Kennison, Laura Kaminsky, Daniel Weymouth, Matthew Barnson, Margaret Schedel and Daria Semegen. She received a Ph.D. in music composition from Stony Brook University under the supervision of Sheila Silver.