Join us for a special concert in celebration of Persian American composer Reza Vali’s 70th birthday, featuring the world premiere of his piece Esfahan (Calligraphy No. 17), performed by the Carpe Diem String Quartet with accompanying calligraphy animation by designer Omid Nemalhabib.
 
Described by Corinna da Fonseca-Wolheim of The New York Times as “vibrant and richly expressive,” Vali’s music blends Western classical language with Persian folk songs and idioms into beautiful and textured works. Since 2000, Vali’s music has been based on the Persian modal system, the Dastgâh-Maghâm, exploring the potential of this highly advanced musical system.  
 
This performance will feature an all–Reza Vali program of string quartet music, from earlier works such as Folk Songs (Set No.11B) to Vali’s most recent work Dashti (Calligraphy No. 18) for singing string quartet, as well as Esfahan (Calligraphy No. 17) for string quartet with video projection.  
 
Reza Vali was born in Ghazvin, Iran, in 1952. He began his music studies at the Conservatory of Music in Tehran. In 1972 he went to Austria and studied music education and composition at the Academy of Music in Vienna. Afterward, he moved to the United States and continued his studies at the University of Pittsburgh, receiving his PhD in music theory and composition in 1985. Mr. Vali has been a faculty member of the School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University since 1988.

Omid Nemalhabib is a graphic design and art director with a bold focus on multilingual typography and visual identity design. He is the founder of Studio Melli in Tehran, Iran.