Mehdi Hosseini
Mehdi Hosseini is an Iranian composer and musicologist, born in Tehran on July 10, 1979. He began studying music in Iran, focusing on Persian music theory and composition with Farhad Fakhreddini. He later studied composition at the Saint Petersburg State Conservatory named after Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov with Alexander Mnatsakanyan, and completed postgraduate studies with Sergei Slonimsky. His other teachers included Nigel Osborne, Gennady Belov, and Vladimir Tsytovich. As a musicologist, he researched music theory under Tatyana Bershadskaya.
In 2007, Hosseini attended summer composition courses at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in Mürzzuschlag, Austria. His album Monodies was nominated by the Iran Music House in the Album of the Year category in 2013. His works have been performed by orchestras and ensembles including Ensemble intercontemporain, PluralEnsemble, ensemble proton bern, and the Studio for New Music Soloists Ensemble. His scores are published by Composer—Saint Petersburg and Donemus.
Hosseini founded the Saint Petersburg Center for Contemporary Academic Music, reMusik.org, in 2011. From 2013, he has also served as founder and artistic director of the Saint Petersburg International New Music Festival. In 2023, he created the contemporary music ensemble Répons. In 2025, he founded the International eLearning Institute for New Music in Switzerland, where he serves as chief executive and artistic director.
His output includes works for chamber and symphony orchestras, ensembles, soloists, and combinations of instruments with electronics and new media. Monody is a central organizing principle in his music, which draws on his research into Persian art music, including the dastgah system, and folk music from different regions of Iran. His works include Symphony of Monody (2005), Concerto for String Quartet and Chamber Orchestra (2008), Hesar (2013), Inertia (2014), and Ctesiphon (2024).