The Rogue Duo

The Rogue Duo is a Violin Piano duo, with Bijan Sepanji as Violinist and Saman Shahi as Pianist active since 2017 performing several concerts in Canada and other parts of the world. I had the chance to work with them in two occasion. The first time was in 2018 with my piece "Shur" for duet which won the first prize of Duet composition competition hosted by University of Tehran and was premiered in Tehran and performed in several occasion later in Canada. My second collaboration with the duo is featuring a piece called Toccata for Violin and Piano. The piece is commissioned by ICOT and will be performed during a tour in November 2023.

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Shūr (2018)

Program note:

"Shur" is a composition for violin and piano duet, which earned the 1st prize in the Duet Composition Competition held in Tehran in 2018. The piece took shape during a series of public protests across various Iranian cities in January 2018. In Persian, "Shur" embodies the concept of "passion" and is one of the "Seven Dastgahs" of Iranian Traditional Music.. The main theme of this piece is originated from one of the most distinctive melodies in Persian Dastgah music, expressing a propulsive yet disintegrated character. This work is divided into six characteristically different sections, filled with mixed and contrasting emotions. Over disembodied violin spiccatos, the piece opens with a frozen start and travels through shifting moods until we reach the third section. A detailed hocketing between the violin and the piano, representing the disintegrated character of the main theme, gradually increasing in complexity until both the pianist and the violinist is diving into a vortex. The music again unfolds in total ambiguity recalling elements from the preceding sections in a summing up that still fails to attain a clear resolution.

Shūr - 2018 - Mehrdad Jafari RaadMehrdad Jafari Raad

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Video [Excerpt]:

Toccata for Violin & Piano (2023)

Program note:

In my second composition for this instrumental pairing, titled 'Toccata for Violin and Piano,' I engaged in a thought experiment. I considered the violin and the piano as musical machines working to craft music from a very simple concept: the repetition of a single note. With a few variations each time, we transform that basic idea into something different, only to return to it later. However, as with many of my compositions, I become emotional, distracted, and doubtful in the middle, and this, too, is reflected in the piece.
Through 'Toccata for Violin and Piano,' I challenge the conventional roles of these instruments and envision them as creative machines, offering a personal perspective on musical expression.