Three Iranian Composers (Farid Omran, Hassan Riahi and Loris Tjeknavorian)
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Winners of Fajr Music Festival
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With Iranian Poet Abbas Yamini-Sharif
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With performers/singers of Academia (Shiraz)
Farid Omran was born in 1945 in Abadan, Iran. He started playing piano from an early age, composing short pieces for piano. In 1951 his family moved to Tehran where he started his musical education under the guidance of Leonid Samus, an exiled Russian pianist, and later in the Tehran Conservatory of Music under the guidance of composer Morteza Hannaneh and Yusof Yusofzadeh.
He further continued his musical studies at London College of Music with the Professors John MacCabe and Norman Demuth, while developing his conducting techniques under Professor Laurence Leonard at Morely College of Music.
Omran continued his musical career in Iran through teaching piano and composition in his private studio in Tehran as well as in different colleges and universities. In parallel, he expanded his musical portfolio by composing orchestral, chamber, and instrumental music.
With (late) John McCabe, Martin Ellerby and Adam Gorb (LCM).
His early influences in composition were Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and Bach and later, Debussy, Bartok, Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich.
Omran used folk music as a means for his melodic constructions and composed his “Miniatures for piano” as a blueprint which he later developed into large scale pieces. In 1986, Omran immigrated to the UK and has resided in London since. During this time, he founded "Rudaki Music Society" to perform and introduce his music to the Western audience by performing his music at several venues.
Conducting Academia Orchestra (Vahdat Hall, Tehran)
From 2002 Omran started travelling to Iran where he continued teaching music in several universities and institutions including, University of Art, Iran Broadcasting University, Azad University as well as composing and performing his music.
He conducted many of his compositions in music halls and festivals including Fajr Music Festival, where he won the “Golden lyre” prize as a distinguished composer. During this period, he published numerous educational books including his 3 volume Learning to Play Piano, his Album for the Young (24 Pieces for Piano), and some of his benchmark pieces like Persian Songs Suite (for piano).