Biography

Mohammad Reza Lotfi (Jan 1947–2 May 2014) was an Iranian classical musician renowned for his mastery of the Tar and Setar. He completed his studies at the Conservatory of Music and Faculty of Fine Arts of Tehran University. Some of his eminent teachers were Ali Akbar Shahnazi, Abdollah Davami, Saeed Hormozi and Nour-Ali Boroumand. In 1974 he co-founded the Shayda Ensemble. Between 1978 and 1980, Lotfi became the Head of the School of Music at Tehran University. He served as the director of the Center for the Preservation and Propagation of Traditional Persian Music and the "Chavosh" Center. In 1984 Lotfi was invited by Fondazione Cini to participate in a seminar and perform concerts in Italy where he resided for two years. After his departure from Iran, he was in close contact with Hossein Alizadeh and used to play duets with him. In 1986 these two with Hossein Omoumi and Mohammad Ghavihelm went to America for a concert tour and Lotfi settled in America and did not return to Iran until 2005. Lotfi was one of the greatest contemporary masters of the tar and setar. He was among the major figures who, in the past fourty years, have revolutionized the Persian traditional (classical) music. His innovative approach of combining the classical with folk elements, both in terms of music and technique, injected a new vitality into a very old tradition. His original creativity and the deep-rooted emotional quality of his playing made him the father of a new aesthetics in Persian music.