Yalda Zamani has distinguished herself with her unique and diverse background and curiosity for interdisciplinary collaborations, innovative approaches, and openness in leading renowned orchestras and soloist ensembles.
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Apart from her wide-ranging knowledge of symphonic and choral repertoire, as an advocate for modern and contemporary music, based in Germany, the Iranian conductor Yalda Zamani has given world premiere performances at renowned venues and festivals including Darmstadt New Music Festival, Wien Modern Festival, Berlin Ultraschall Festival, Music Biennale Zagreb, Musikprotokoll festival in Graz, Ruhrtriennale Festival, Time of Music Festival in Finland, St George's Hall in Liverpool, Royaumont Abbey in France, Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Austria among others, and has performed with numerous orchestras and ensembles such as ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna, Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, Klangforum Wien, Collegium Novum Zürich, Ensemble Linea, Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Ensemble Modern Academy, Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra and Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie among others.
Yalda Zamani gathered her first conducting experiences as assistant conductor of the Austro-Iranian Symphony Orchestra in Tehran before studying and graduating with distinction from the Music and Arts University in Vienna (MUK), where she studied conducting and harpsichord performance, during which as a choir member of the historic “Wiener Singverein” and “Wiener Singakademie”, she regularly performed with orchestras such as Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra and Tonkünstler Orchestra under conductors such as Ricardo Muti, Johannes Prinz, Gustavo Dudamel, Ton Koopmen, Paavo Järvi and Daniele Gatti among others. After graduation, she was selected as conductor and scholarship holder of the Ensemble Modern Academy in Frankfurt to work closely with the Ensemble Modern, which contributed to her growing interest in the performance of modern and contemporary music.
She is a former recipient of the “Start-Stipendium'', awarded by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture to young successful artists in Austria in 2015, and was identified as a promising young conductor by the Ulysses Network - IRCAM artistic committee in France in 2017-2019. In 2019, Zamani was the semi-finalist and the orchestra prize winner at the Jeunesse Musicales International conducting competition in Bucharest, after which she assisted Daniel Barenboim with the Boulez ensemble consisting of the musicians of the Staatskapelle Berlin, and became the winner/finalist of the “Das Kritische Orchestra'' by the Dirigentenforum and Deutscher Musikrat, and a featured artist at the European network of opera academies and the Academy of Festival d’Aix-en Provence, in which she jumped in as assistant to Esa-Pekka Salonen with the rehearsals of Kurt Will’s Mahagonny. Later, she served as assistant conductor at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt in Austria and assisted Bas Wiegers with the production of Salvatore Sciarrino's new opera "Il canto s'attrista per ché".
As the founder and artistic director of the Contemporary Chamber Orchestra Elbe she engages in the realization of innovative projects at the intersection of music and science both as conductor, composer, and electronic music performer. She is currently doing a Ph.D. on computational creativity, interdisciplinary approaches, and the application of new technologies in music performances at the HfMT in Hamburg where she is appointed as a lecturer for the performance practice of contemporary music. As a co-founder of the WE:Shape community, She actively attempts to engage in discussions and raise awareness on the issue of the lack of diversity in the European classical music scene, and the absence of BIPOC artists in the leadership and decision-making positions. She is currently the recipient of a doctoral research fellowship Pro-Exzellenzia from the city of Hamburg and the European Social Fund, which is aimed at effectively and sustainably increasing the proportion of women in leadership positions.