Just days into the COVID-19 lockdown, Kian Ravaei began a daily ritual of playing a Bach chorale at the piano and composing an original chorale in response. What started as a way to ground himself during a period of emotional turbulence blossomed into an artistic reawakening. Over the course of one year and three hundred sixty-five chorales, Ravaei cultivated a deeply personal musical language rooted in a centuries-long tradition.
Born to Iranian immigrants, Ravaei maintains close ties to the Iranian community in his hometown of Los Angeles (or, as Iranians often call it, Tehrangeles). His multicultural arrangement of the Iranian folk song Morgh-e Sahar — the unofficial anthem for Iranian freedom — was performed at Farhang Foundation’s annual Nowruz celebration, the largest Iranian New Year celebration outside Iran. A passionate speaker, Ravaei delivered a one-hour public lecture on the relationship between music and identity as part of the UCLA Iranian Music Lecture Series. Many of his works combine the ornamented melodies of Iranian classical music with the colorful harmonies of Western classical music.
Whether he is composing piano preludes inspired by mythical creatures, flute melodies that mimic the songs of endangered birds, or a string quartet that draws from the Iranian music of his ancestral heritage, he takes listeners on a spellbinding tour of humanity’s most deeply felt emotions. His dream project is to someday compose an evening-length sacred oratorio for orchestra, chorus, and vocal soloists.