Biography
Behdad Behzadi
Composer and instrumentalist of Iranian classical music. Born in Tehran, based in London, performing across Europe.
I
Roots
Born in Tehran, Behdad Behzadi began studying traditional Persian instruments as a child. He took up the kamancheh — a four-stringed spike fiddle older than the violin — and later the tar, the long-necked lute that carries Iranian classical music's most demanding repertoire.
His training followed the radif: a body of work passed teacher to student over generations, learned by memory before it is ever performed. By his twenties, he was recognised as one of the most promising musicians of his cohort. He honoured the tradition closely, and pushed at its edges quietly.
II
Exile
After Iran's Green Movement, Behdad's compositions turned political. As state pressure intensified, he refused to recast his work into something safer, and eventually he could not stay.
He spent more than a decade outside Iran, separated from his family. He continued to compose throughout: a body of work shaped by absence, written for ensembles he could not gather in the same room.
Each note is a whisper of those who were silenced. Each melody carries the hope they could not speak.
III
A new chapter
Now based in London, reunited with his family, Behdad performs the catalogue he could not perform at home, alongside new work for voice, strings, and Persian classical ensemble.
His recent compositions hold the radif at the centre while drawing in contemporary string writing, Persian vocal traditions, and the sound-world of the diaspora. He continues to teach, record, and tour across Europe.
