Setareh Nafisi is a composer, pianist, improviser, and multidisciplinary artist. Her work is most often described as ‘beyond borders’, and draws together all the threads of her musical journey, incorporating influences from classical, electronics, avant-garde and Eastern disciplines. Her piece Wayfarer for string quartet and electronics was described as “very emotionally intelligent” (Jon Hemmersam, 2020), and her on stage performances have been described as “magnetic” (RADAR festival 2019). Inspired by her multi-faceted cultural journey, she is forever searching for a broader musical vocabulary with which to communicate her stories to the new audiences of today .

Currently based in Netherlands, Setareh has been commissioned by Het Nationale Ballet, Unicef, Holland Opera, Grachtenfestival, and McNicol Ballet Collective (UK). She has composed for award winning short films with Vidamir, and regularly performs her own compositions with her ensembles and bands. She has collaborated with world renowned artists such as Oene van Geel, Nicholas Thayer, and choreographer Peter Leung. She is also one of the founders of ‘The World We Live In’, a socially engaged community arts foundation with outreach and educational features, through which she is teaching a module at Prins Claus Conservatory.

Setareh began her musical education at age four, studying piano, and later violin, vocal and percussion, going on to tour both nationally and internationally with Tehran Vocal Ensemble, Tehran Symphonic Orchestra, Tehran Choir and also collaborating with independent composers and ensembles.

She gained a bachelor degree as a concert pianist from Tehran Art University, and then a second bachelor from Prins Claus Conservatoire (Groningen, NL), this time incorporating improvisation and composition. She then took further study in composition for film at Amsterdam Conservatoire (CvA), before completing a Masters research in composition at the intersection of acoustic and electronic instrumentation for new audiences at Prins Claus.

In her practice as a composer, performer, improviser and multi-disciplinary artist Nafisi uses both classical and contemporary techniques, electronic and acoustic elements, in order to best tell a story that needs to be told. An artist beyond borders!