Mehdi Rezania started learning santur at 13 in his hometown of Abadeh with Bahman Nowruzi and Mohammad Rasuli then later studied the advanced method of santur playing in Kamkars Music Academy in Tehran under the supervision of Ardavan Kamkar for a year. In 2004, he cofounded Baarbad Music with Toloe Roushenas. Baarbad Ensemble has performed in some of the most prestigious venues and universities of Ontario and Quebec such as Glenn Gould Studio, Toronto Centre for the Arts, Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, University of Toronto, York University, Western University, Carleton University and Brock University. He holds a BFA in music and an MA in music composition from York University where he studied composition with professors Michael Coghlan and David Mott, music theory with professors Jah Rahn and Art Levine, Balkan music under professor Irene Markoff, West African music under Kwasi Dunyo and Anna Malnikoff and Arabic music under Bassam Shahouk. He continued education at University of Alberta with an MA in ethnomusicology where he studied with Professor Michael Frishkopf, Professor Julia Byl and Professor Maryam Moshaver. He also has pursued studying composition with Professor Howard Bashaw and Professor Mark Hannesson. He has released three albums “Salute to Sun” (2011), “Gatha: The Message of Zarathushthra” (2014), and “Gems of Radif” (2020). He has served as the music director of the Annual Iranian Heritage Day at the Royal Ontario Museum since its creation in 2011. In 2012, he founded Saba Music Series; a series dedicated to artistic music of the east from with focus on Central Asia. Rezania has received several awards and grants from Toronto Art Council, Ontario Art Council, Edmonton Art Council and Canada Art Council for compositions, recordings and music projects. He has collaborated with virtuoso musicians of various backgrounds such as George Sawa, Keivan Saket, Salar Aghili, Hossein Behroozinia, Brenna MacCrimmon, Sinfonia Toronto and Windermere String Quartet. He is pursuing his PhD in ethnomusicology at the University of Alberta with the Doctoral Scholarship from The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. His interest is on the changes of practice and performance of Persian classical music in the post-revolutionary period, music theory and music aesthetics.

Art/Art History

Music

19th-21st Centuries

Iranian Studies

Persian

Colonialism

Classical

Ethnomusicology

Kurdish Studies

Media

Iran

Turkey

Afghanistan

Tajikistan

Contemporary Persian Music

Music And Politics

Music Theory

English (advanced)

Persian (advanced)

Arabic (elementary)