"His rich palette of colour, the exquisite extraction of sound, the admixture of meters, the articulated rhythmic power that can move one from the clutches of gravity to an upward expansion of an almost exalted levity, his exposure to two different musical traditions and his synchronic blending of Western and Persian modal music approach a well-nigh synergistic outcome; Saman Samadi is an extraordinarily gifted musician and composer, clearly destined for a trajectory of success in his field.
Samadi explores the common terrain which actually undergirds both the Eastern and Western worldviews and assumptions by meticulously tracing out their contours, looking closely at the roots of each individual tradition and ultimately finding there a single tree, with but only one trunk — a realization that these differentiated branches all attach." —Richard S. Campo, 2020
Saman Samadi is a Persian-American composer, performer, music scholar, and current doctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge. Over nearly two decades, his prolific repertoire of orchestral, chamber, solo and electroacoustic music has been performed internationally — in the mid & far East, Europe, and on both coasts of the United States. His music was inspired early by those composers who are known under the rubric New Complexity; however, in 2010, he commenced to develop his unique compositional approach, one which entails a new pitch space, utilising microtonal modes derived from traditional Persian music, multilayered & heterophonic textures, complex polyrhythms & polymeters; all traced within a detailed system of musical notation permitting replication. He received his degree in Mathematics from NODET, an Iranian educational institution for mathematical prodigies. He studied Philosophy and Critical Thinking at the University of Queensland, and Artistic Research at Orpheus Institute & Leuven University. He earned his BA in Music Performance & MA in Composition from the University of Tehran where he studied with Alireza Mashayekhi. From 2006 to 2009, Samadi was the director of the Concentus Orchestra, a mix of musicians from the Tehran Music Conservatory and the University of Tehran. He is a first-prize winner of the 2012 Counterpoint-Italy International Composition Competition. His work was selected for a premiere at the 2014 New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival. In 2013, he was offered a scholarship for music composition studies at the State University of New York where he studied with Daria Semegen, to whom he was also an assistant at the Electronic Music Studio in Stony Brook. For the past half-decade, Samadi has been an active performer in New York City's Downtown Scene of experimental music and free improvisation. In 2018, he invited various alumni from the Manhattan School of Music to form the Saman Samadi Quintet. He is also the leader of two NYC-based ensembles, Apām Napāt Trio, and Aži Trio. In 2015, Samadi was awarded an Artist Diploma from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). He is a former faculty member of the Music School of New York City, the Piano School of NYC, and the Editorial Officer of the Wolfson Research Event 2021. Samadi is the founder and director of the Cambridge University Experimental Music Ensemble. His current research at the Faculty of Music, Cambridge, is under Richard Causton and Peter McMurray. Samadi is a Grantham Scholar and the President of the Wolfson College Music Society at the University of Cambridge.
Saman Samadi is available for online instruction, consultation, and supervision.
Email address: ss2728@cam.ac.uk
University of Cambridge, Faculty of Music: mus.cam.ac.uk/directory/samansamadi
Research Catalogue: researchcatalogue.net/samansamadi
Cambridge University Experimental Music Ensemble: cam.cueme.uk