Shahriyār Jamshidi, an illustrious Kurdish Kamānche (four-stringed-spiked-fiddle) player, composer, vocalist and the founder of the Dilan Chamber Ensemble, with a pronounced cultural background, is well-known for his creative and masterful kamānche improvisations, both as a soloist and in ensembles. He is a graduate of Tehran University of Art and a former artist-in-residence at Banff Centre. Shahriyār has devoted his artistic profession to the preservation and transmission of the Kurdish musical heritage—focusing on the kamānche as a unique and capable instrument to demonstrate the art-music of Kurdistan.
Shahriyār has performed at numerous Iranian music venues, including Roudaki Hall (2004) and has been invited for interviews and live performances on several radio and TV channels, including Kurdistan TV, The Voice of America Kurdish, and CBC.
Since settling in Canada in 2012, Shahriyār has consistently sought new musical languages, thereby crossing cultures with his Kurdish Kamānche recitals. He has already performed at International Society for Improvised Music (ISIM), Switzerland and Canada; High-Fest, Armenia; Festival du Monde Arabe de Montréal; Ontario Contact; Canadian Opera Company; Sound Symposium XXI (2024); 33rd World Conference of International Society for Music Education, Azerbaijan; University of Minneapolis School of Music and Cello Biënnale Amsterdam (2018); University of Glasgow, UK (2023); and collaborated with Windsor (2019) and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (2024).
Shahriyār’s past releases contain five solo albums (Alvanati, Call of the Mountains, A Yellow Flower, The Lullaby of A Nomad, and My Sunset-Land ROJAVA) as well as Meet Me in Tangier, HiRUDiN, Kamancello, Voyage, and Of Shadows.
In addition, Shahriyār Jamshidi has received several Canadian and international awards, including the Canada Arts Council, SOCAN Foundation, Toronto Arts Council, and Ontario Arts Council—as well as the International Society for Music Education, Australia and the US, and Imagine Fund, University of Minneapolis School of Music.
