Concert: Light Always Prevails

Maestro Shardad Rohani and his Roudaki Orchestra performed a sold out concert at Stanford's Dinkelspiel Auditorium on May 31, 2026. The performance was co-sponsored by the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies at Stanford and the Farhang Foundation. 

Conductor and composer Shardad Rohani was born in Tehran and educated at the Music Academy and Conservatory of Music in Vienna, Austria. Rohani formally served as the musical director and principal conductor of the Tehran Symphony from 2016 to 2020. The resurrection of the symphony in the early 2000s has been instrumental in connecting Tehran to the international arts community, including recent collaborations with noted conductors such as Riccardo Muti. In addition to his role as director of the Tehran Symphony (2016-2020), Rohani wrote and performed the anthem for the Iran National Soccer team’s appearance during the World Cup in 2018. He was also commissioned to compose the music for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 13th Asian Olympic Games held in Thailand.

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Photo credit: Nadim Badiee