Soheil Shirangi

Composer, researcher, university lecturer and educator specializing in contemporary, classical, electroacoustic, and experimental music. Founder and Artistic Director of Dream House Ensemble with international performances, collaborations, publications, and research activities across Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. Holds a Master of Music in Composition from San Francisco State University, where he also served as a Graduate Assistant in music theory, contemporary music, and ensemble studies. Active member of the National Association of Composers, USA (NACUSA), including the San Francisco chapter.

Education & Training

• Master of Music in Composition, San Francisco State University (2026)

• Graduate Assistant, San Francisco State University (2025–2026)

• Specialized Composition Studies with Professors Sabey and Rossen, San Francisco State University (2024–2025)

• Graduate Research Studies with Dr. Paul Ellison, San Francisco State University (2024–2025)

• Advanced Studies in Composition and Contemporary Music with Nader Mashayekhi, Dimitri Papageorgiou, and others (2012–2015)

• Graduate of Tehran Conservatory of Music with Advanced Piano Studies under Bahram Dehghanyar and Valentin Rokamanykvf (2010–2014)

Teaching Experience

• Mentor & Participant, Summer 2025 Mentorship Program: International Composer Collaboration Project

  Selected among 14 composers internationally for artistic collaboration and contemporary music exchange. Composed and presented works for solo piano and piano with electroacoustic elements; featured on the Live Composers platform.

• Graduate Assistantship, San Francisco State University (2025–2026)

  Assisted courses including:

  • MUS 232: Diatonic Harmony

  • MUS 403: Chromatic Harmony

  • MUS 370: Open Ensemble

  • MUS 420: Twentieth-Century Techniques

    under Professors Benjamin Sabey and Jono Kornfeld.

• Instructor in Piano, Composition, and Music Theory (2010–Present)

  Taught at music academies in Tehran, including Nogah, Jam, and Samin Academy. Provided instruction in piano performance, composition, harmony, counterpoint, and music theory while mentoring students for competitions and professional performances.

Leadership Roles

• Founder & Artistic Director, Dream House Ensemble (2018–Present)

  Founded and directs an ensemble dedicated to the performance and promotion of contemporary music in Tehran and internationally. Led concerts, recordings, collaborations, and performances of works by John Cage, La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Philip Glass, and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

• Member & Bass Ensemble Supervisor, Iran Philharmonic Choir (2016–2023)

  Served as ensemble member and supervisor of the Bass Section beginning in 2019.

• Manager, Parsik Ensemble (2012–2016)

  Managed a multi-genre ensemble combining piano, strings, percussion, and traditional Iranian instruments.

Awards, Honors & Scholarships

• Recipient of the Deborah L. Larson Memorial Endowed Scholarship in Music, San Francisco State University (2026)

• Recipient of the Kyriakos Karababas Memorial Scholarship, San Francisco State University (2025)

• Scholarship Recipient, San Francisco State University (2024–2026)

• Recognition for Participation, MUSLAB International Electroacoustic Music Exhibition, Quito, Ecuador (2024)

• Second Place, CBU University Composition Scholarship for Samat (2022)

• Recognition for Participation, Alfred Schnittke Akademie International (2022)

• Third Place, Orginsky International Composition Competition for Orchestra, Belarus (2020)

• Scholarship Holder, Hamburg Media Festival (2019)

• Best Composer Nominee, 33rd Fajr Music Festival (2018)

• Diploma Recipient, III International Contest of Choral Composing (A. D. Kastalsky) (2018)

• Second Place, Tehran International Electronic Music Festival (2017)

Affiliations

• Member, Iran House of Music Composers Association and the Contemporary Music Center of Iran (since 2016)

• Member, National Association of Composers, USA (NACUSA) and the San Francisco Chapter (since 2024)

Performances, Collaborations & Selected Discography

Composer, pianist, and conductor whose works have been performed internationally in Iran, Germany, Greece, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, Romania, and the United States.

• Performance at the Contemporary Music Festival at the University and Sprengel Museum in Hannover, Germany (2018)

• Collaborative performance with Thomas Percy in New York (2022)

• Extensive artistic activities with Dream House Ensemble in concerts, festivals, recordings, and interdisciplinary projects

• Released albums including Themes and Variations (2022), Sonorystyka No.1 (2023), Politics–Aesthetics No. IV: The Plays (2024), and Dream House Ensemble’s recording of Stockhausen’s Stimmung (2025)

• Published works through Naxos, Noise à Noise, Post Orientalism Music, Phasma Music, Zang Records, Cold Spring Records, and Raha Records

• Composed chamber, orchestral, vocal, choral, electroacoustic, and solo piano works inspired by Persian poetry and contemporary aesthetics

• Featured in international anthologies including Visions of Darkness Volume II and Post-Orientalism Anthology: Sonitus Vols. 2–4

Research, Publications & Academic Presentations

Google Scholar Profile:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=aANsJsYAAAAJ&hl=en

• Published research and academic contributions archived through Google Scholar and the UCLA eScholarship Music Library Collection

• Author of Beyond the Octave: The Influence of Non-Western Tuning Systems on Western Contemporary Music — presented at the VI International Symposium: Mikrotöne – Small Is Beautiful, Mozarteum University Salzburg; published in Mackingerverlag Vol. VI (2026)

• Presented analytical research on works by Claude Debussy, Ludwig van Beethoven, Edgard Varèse, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Henryk Górecki, and Claude Vivier at San Francisco State University graduate seminars and composition studios

• Published “Resonance of Worship”: Religious Themes in William Byrd’s Sacred and Secular Music in the UCLA eScholarship Music Library Collection (2025)

• Published “It’s Better Not to Know About a Work of Art Before Encountering It” following presentations at San Francisco State University and the Center for Electroacoustic Music (CEAM), Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory

• Composer and publisher of Katibeh for flute and guitar, archived in the UCLA eScholarship Contemporary Music Score Collection (2025)