Gallery 
Tirgan 2013 Artists
Cinema
Aly Jetha, a Zambian native who immigrated to Canada with his family in 1974 and grew up in Vancouver, is co-founder and CEO of Oznoz.com and Big Bad Boo...
Aref Mohammadi is a well-known journalist, film-critic, filmmaker and TV producer within the Iranian communities outside Iran. He is currently writing, hosting, and producing a weekly TV program...
Babak Payami, a successful film director, writer and producer with over 15 years of experience within the film industry, is the recipient of numerous international awards including the Best...
Shabnam is the co-founder and President of Oznoz.com and Big Bad Boo Studios - sister companies she started with her husband, Aly Jetha- dedicated to...
Shirin Neshat is among the best-known Iranian artists in the Western world. She has lived in the United States, in self-imposed exile from her native Iran, for most of her adult life. This...
Shoja Azari is an Iranian born visual artist/filmmaker who lives and works in New York City. Shoja uses film, painting and photography to create striking and culturally referenced works.
In...
Cooking
Hailed as “The guru of Persian cuisine” by The Washington Post, Najmieh Batmanglij has spent the past 30 years cooking, traveling, and adapting authentic Iranian recipes to the tastes...
Dance
Azar is a student and performer of Iranian contemporary dance. Since Fall 2011, she has been performing in various group and individual Iranian and Kurdish performances. She has performed in...
Azita Sahebjam was born in Tehran, Iran. She was an active participant of Pars National Ballet since 1978 under the direction and teachings of Abdollah Nazemi. She performed all around Iran and...
Delara was born in Tehran, Iran. From the age of 6, Delara started studying music, choosing the flute as her instrument. Her passion for dance also started at a young age. After seeing Flamenco...
Karine Gonzalez is a multifaceted artist. After studying piano, music theory and ballet dance for over ten years, she naturally found her passion in Flamenco; her ideal language to express herself...
Katherine St. John earned an MA in ethnic dance at Brigham Young University, an MA at University of Utah in Persian Studies and completed coursework towards a PhD at the University of California/...
Mateo Galindo Torres Originally from Colombia, Mateo Galindo Torres started his training at Petipa, Escuela de Danza. In 2006 he traveled to USA to take the Omaha Theater Ballet winter course....
Mayn Zard Dance Group was formed in 2010 by Mostafa Nosraty, following his former group -The Kurdish House Dance Group- founded in Toronto in 2008. His vision behind the group is to help this...
Odlar Dance Group performs Azerbaijani folk couple and solo dances. Their dances are festive, sometimes nostalgic and always improvised. Their movements are spun from a language of the soul,...
Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam graduated from the University of Paris VIII with a degree in History of Art and Theatre. He specializes in Middle Eastern folklore and mystical dance and has a deep...
Yasmine Zahedi began her continuous years of Iranian folk and contemporary dance instructions in spring of 2005. Truly passionate about Iranian dance, Yasmine aims to showcase the beautiful and...
Literature / History
“What a repository is my memory! Why does my memory transcend now and then and embrace the whole history? All accompany me in my memory and I am absent from everybody’s memory”....
Dr. Mokhtari recieved his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware in 1983 and has taught International Relations, Public Policy Administration, Political Economy, and Political Philosophy at various...
Hamid Rahmanian is an award-¬winning filmmaker and graphic artist whose work spans two decades. He has received numerous awards for his achievements. His works have been exhibited in...
Kaveh Farrokh, the author of three history books, has been recognized as an expert in the ancient history of Persia. His books have been translated into Russian and Persian. Kaveh is affiliated...
Former student of the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Leili Anvar holds a PhD in Persian literature. She is assistant professor at the Institut des Langues et des Civilisations Orientales in...
Moniro Ravanipour is an internationally acclaimed innovative writer who is the author of twelve titles published in Iran, including six collections of short fiction, Kanizu and Satan’s...
Born in 1971 in Mashhad (Iran), holding a Master’s degree in Architectural Engineering from Faculty of Fine Arts, the University of Tehran; Siamak Eskandari is also a cultural heritage...
Music
Afarin Mansouri Tehrani is the co-founder of "ICOT" - Iranian-Canadian Composers of Toronto, an associate composer of Canadian Music Centre, and an advisory committee member for North...
Ajam is a London based band that formed in early 2010. Ajam's music tries to bring the epic and soulful spirit of the native music of Iran to a new generation. The band's repertoire...
Born in Guatemala City, Alfredo lived in Seville, Spain where he studied with multiple renowned master Flamenco guitarists, and legendary Flamenco dancer and percussionist Manolo San Lúcar...
Araz Nayeb Pashayee began his education in Iranian classical music at the age of eight, and ever since has had his main focus on the rhythmic aspects of it. Specializing on Tombak (Persian...
Babak Taghikhani was born in 1975 in Tehran and started piano lessons at the age of 14 with acclaimed piano tutor Lili Sarkisian. With a MA in architecture and as a multi-award winner in...
Fresh off a major headline tour of the UK in 2012, Blurred Vision has been creating a buzz that has stretched across the world. They've been covered in Rolling Stone and Billboard, displayed...
Vahid Tabatabaie aka DJ Taba has over 8 years of experience as a disk jockey (DJ), musician, and master of ceremonies. He is currently a resident DJ at Radiojavan.com and the host of popular...
Erwin Khachikian was born in Tehran, Iran and moved to the USA when he was 13 years old. In Farsi, Karmandan translates to blue-collar office workers. The songs are written and produced by Erwin...
A Saxophonist by training, Farzin is a multi-talented songwriter & producer who has worked in diverse genres for more than two decades. His melodic tunes influenced by his partiality to jazz,...
A fusion vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter, Hamed Nikpay has been a pioneering & experimental artist for over a decade. His music transcends all boundaries and genres, and is an...
Born and raised in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Hussain grew up surrounded by diverse traditional music of his country, as well as pop, jazz, & R & B. He started singing in school choirs at 10,...
Kamal was born in 1956 in Hamedan. He began his studies in music composition in Tehran National Music School and Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran and pursued his graduate studies...
Kamelia is a prodigy of today's Persian Opera. Her voice has a warm timbre and a dark color. Born to a musically inclined family, she discovered her passion for singing at the tender age of...
Keyan Emami is currently pursuing his Doctorate of Music in Composition at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Professors Alexander Rapoport and Norbert Palej.
Keyan holds a...
Kiya Tabassian was born in 1976, in Tehran, Iran, immigrating to Montreal in 1990. He has been trained in Persian music under Reza Ghasemi and Kayhan Kalhor. He studied musical composition at the...
Dr. Miller studied Persian music in Iran in 1959 then in the 1960s in Paris with master Daryush Safvat at Centre d'Études de Musique Orientale. He also studied 12 Eastern languages at...
Having lived in five different countries and moved twenty times by the time he was 18, Maneli Jamali has gained a sense of music maturity rarely seen among his peers. The young artist...
Maziar started Piano with the famous piano professor Ardeshir Rohani, when he was 5. He received his bachelor’s in Industrial Engineering and completed composition lessons with Farhad...
Naghmeh Farahmand the daughter of a leading master percussionist Mahmoud Farahmand has performed with many well-known ensembles in Iran and festivals around the world, Europe, Asia and North...
Neda Seyedi is a 23- year-old Iranian vocal artist, born and raised in Germany. Her parents are originally from the city of Mashhad in northeast Iran.
Her love of music and singing led...
Neemeha, an independent Toronto-based Iranian-Canadian music band formed in 2008, consists of Behnam Jahanbeiglou (band leader, composer, vocalist and multi instrumentalist), Behrouz Jahanbeiglou...
Pouya Hamidi had his first lessons in classical piano as a small child in Iran. Since coming to Canada he has attended the Young Artist Performance Academy at The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM...
Never having been to Iran, this American-born Iranian is nonetheless influenced by her heritage, and she expresses this by uniting musical elements from both the East and the West. This unique...
Saman finished his Masters of Music in Composition from the University of Toronto in 2012, where he also received his Bachelor’s degree with honors in Composition and Piano Performance in...
Sardar Mohammadjani born in 1978 in a Kurdish region of Iran chose Tar as his primary musical instrument at the age of 10. In 1997 he left his city of birth, Mahabad, to pursue his passion in...
Sarv Ensemble is a Persian music ensemble. Drawing inspiration from diverse classical and folk traditions across Iran, it performs and shares its music through concerts, as well as workshops, and...
A Canadian born & raised percussionist, Satnam has formal training on both drum, and Indian classical Tabla.
He has performed as guest artists and toured with world-renowned artists,...
Saye Sky is an Iranian rap artist and LGBTQ rights activist. As a lesbian she experienced first-hand the oppression and violence against the queer community in Iran, and started to write poetry...
Persian classical vocalist and musician Sepideh Raissadat recorded her first album at the age of 18 with Master Parviz Meshkatian. To her credit, Sepideh was the first female vocalist to have a...
Shahriyar Jamshidi was born in 1971 in the city of Kermanshah. He is a Kurdish-Iranian Kamanche player and composer. He has trained under the supervision of many well-known musicians and...
Sheila Nahrvar was born in the Gilan province, north of Iran. She graduated from Shiraz University in English Literature and Linguistics. From an early age, her passion for singing was nurtured...
Solmaz Peymaei was born in 1980 in Tehran and started singing from an early age and took cello lessons with Davoud Jafari. With a degree in architecture She also studied music in Tehran Music...
The Circle is a Toronto-based, Persian music band founded in 2011, offering a unique style of music as a fusion of jazz and pop with elements of traditional Eastern instruments. The Circle’s...
Maintaining the authenticity of Persian classical music while using the latest musical techniques has been Vesal Ensemble’s most significant goal since its establishment in 2000. This goal...
Theatre
The first female naqqal (Iranian epic storyteller) of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh “Iranian National Epic”, Gordafarid, has excelled in performing traditional narration of epic stories (...
Siavash Shabanpour was born in Tehran, Iran. He began writing poetry in his late teens. His poetry was published in major student-run publications in Iran, as well as in internationally known...
Soheil Parsa is an award-winning director, actor, writer, dramaturg, choreographer and teacher, whose professional theatre career spans thirty years and two continents. In his native Iran, Soheil...
Her childhood passion for dolls, puppets, and stage led Vida to set out on a remarkable journey of bringing puppets to life on live stage as well as the screen. An award-winning puppeteer and...
Visual Arts
Alfred Yaghobzadeh was born in a multicultural family of an Armenian father and Assyrian mother in Tehran, Iran. In 1979 the Iranian revolution interrupted his university studies in interior...
Bahar Sabzevari was born in 1980 in Iran, where she spent most of her life before leaving for Paris in 2003 to study painting. Sabzevari's works become a testimony to the weight religion...
Ehsan Kiabakhsh was born in 1982 in Tehran, Iran. In 1999, he moved to Toronto and began pursuing his passion in painting. He graduated in 2012 from Ontario College of Art and Design University...
Elnaz Maassoumian is an artist and architectural visualizer, living and working in Toronto. After graduating in applied mathematics from the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, she moved to Vancouver...
Gita Hashemi is an award-winning transmedia artist, writer and curator whose practice is concerned with historical and contemporary issues. She uses different techniques and technologies in order...
Born in Iran in 1963, Kamelia Pezeshki holds a BFA from the University of Utah. She is a seasoned fine art photographer with a strong exhibition history who values engagement with her medium...
Kamran Jebreili is a self-trained photographer with a M.A. in architecture from Fine Arts Faculty of Tehran University. He has joined AP in 1997 in Dubai bureau as a regional photographer/photo...
Massoumeh Jian-Javdan is an Iranian-born visual artist based in Toronto, Canada. In 1994, she left her homeland of Iran, taking with her a strong background in drawing. Her practice explores a...
Born in Tehran, Iran, Mehraban Mehrabani’s fascination with nature's exquisite beauty in its tiniest details started from an early age; a fascination, which years later he would...
Nahal Bahrman is a visual artist whose work spans over 15 years and includes a variety of media such as children book illustration, animation, painting, drawing, and photography. A...
Naz Rahbar was born in Tehran Iran in 1983. She immigrated to Canada along with her family at the age of thirteen. Following her passion for narrative drawing, Rahbar finished her studies at OCAD...
Nazy Sakhavarz is a Toronto based artist who has been painting and showing her work in the city for over a decade. Her paintings, often characterized by large-scale depictions of individuals in...
Born in Iran in the historic city of Yazd, Negar Farajiani is an interdisciplinary artist and curator. She lives and works between Yazd and Tehran, working with in a variety of media, including...
Over the past four decades, internationally renowned photojournalist Peter Bregg has travelled to more than 70 countries and captured some of the world’s most compelling stories with his...
Pooyan Tabatabaei is a Toronto based multidisciplinary artist, with more than a decade of experience in photojournalism. Tabatabaei has contributed to push the boundaries in Canadian visual art by...
Born in Iran in 1965, Tirafkan trained as a photographer at the University of Fine Arts in Tehran. Since the late 1980s, he has participated in numerous solo exhibitions and group shows, primarily...
Sanaz Mazinani is an artist, curator, and educator based in San Francisco and Toronto. She holds her undergraduate degree from Ontario College of Art & Design University, and her Masters in...
Sayeh Irankhah was born in Tabriz, Iran in 1977, and currently resides in Toronto. She received a diploma from the Mirak Fina Art School in painting and later a degree in Painting and Drawing from...
Shaghayegh Shirinbab is an artist/educator. She immigrated to Canada in 2008. Shaghayegh studied English literature and art and worked as a Montessori teacher at Toronto Montessori Schools for...
Soheila K. Esfahani grew up in Tehran, Iran, and moved to Canada in 1992. She received her BA in Fine Arts from the University of Waterloo, and her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University...
Sona Safaei-Sooreh (1981) is an interdisciplinary artist, based in Toronto. She holds a BFA in painting from Azad University in Tehran, and a BFA in Sculpture/Installation from OCAD University in...
Touka Neyestani was born in Shahrood, Iran in 1960. He is a well known caricaturist and architect. His father, Manouchehr Neyestani was a poet and his brother Mana is also a caricaturist. He...
Youth Activities
Ariel is a storyteller whose repertoire derives from the literary and folklore traditions of Iran, Turkey, the Middle East and Central Asia: the Firdowsi’s Book of Kings (Shahnameh...
Ladan Lotfi is a performer, dance teacher & the director of Aftaab Dance Group. She received her ballet training in Iran from Madame Yelena in her childhood & years later got her dance...
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Connect to Our Channels
