Nilufar Habibian is a composer of acoustic and electronic music, an award-winning qanun-player and an improviser based in London. Alongside concert music, her interdisciplinary collaborations have included scores for contemporary dance and film.
She has received her diploma in music from Tehran Music Conservatoire and studied Persian classical music in Iran under the supervision of the most prominent Iranian Maestros. She has received her bachelor in music from the Royal Holloway University of London and her master in composition from Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
As a composer, she tries to investigate and express human conditions through sound and explore new sounds that carry and convey multiple meanings, emotions and characters.
Her pieces have performed at different venues such as The Place, Wigmore Hall and Milton Court in the UK and Kennedy Center Millennium Stage (Washington DC) and Roulette Hall (New York) in the US.
As a qanun player, Nilufar performs a variety of musical styles ranging from Persian classical and Middle-Eastern music to avant-garde and experimental contemporary Western music. In her solo performances, she tries to offer new interpretations of the Persian classical repertoire approaching it from a new and modern (technically and aesthetically) viewpoint. She has performed at venues and concert halls such as Vahdat Hall, Rudaki Hall, Milad Hall in Iran and Purcell Room, Cadogan Hall and Cafe OTO in the UK.
Some other collaborations include a storytelling project with City University and Tiny Owl publisher called “The phoenix of Persia”, for which she made incidental music. She also composed an electronic track for “These Are Our Friends Too”, an album that highlights the work the charity FORWARD does towards ending female genital mutilation. In March 2021, her recent electronic piece was released in a compilation Album by Iranian label Noise A Noise.
