HOSSEIN ALIZADEH
Born in 1951, Hossein Alizadeh graduated from the Music Conservatory in Tehran, Iran. In 1975 he entered the School of Music of the University of Tehran where he received his bachelor's degree in composition and performance. During the same period he studied with various masters of traditional Persian music, from whom he learned the radif of Persian classical music. Upon completion of his studies, he was awarded a position with the National Orchestra. He became the conductor and soloist of the Iranian National Orchestra of Radio and Television of Iran and began a solo career. He established the Aref Ensemble and worked with the Shayda Ensemble, both dedicated to the promotion and advancement of Persian classical music. Alizadeh also participated in the orchestra of the Bejart Ballet Company. He has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia and has appeared on many radio and television programs. Alizadeh has taught at the University of Tehran and at the Tehran Music Conservatory. He has written and published a number of etudes for tar and has recorded the entire body of the radif based on the interpretation of Mirza Abdullah. Many consider Alizadeh as one of the most important figures in contemporary Persian music.

MOHAMMAD REZA DARVISHI
Born in Shiraz, Iran, Mohammad Reza Darvishi graduated from the College of Fine Arts of Tehran University in 1978. A composer, educator, and researcher on musical instruments of Iran, Mr. Darvishi has traveled extensively to different regions of Iran and has documented and published books on various musical sounds of the country. He has recently published the first volume of the Encyclopedia of the Musical Instruments of Iran, an ongoing project that started twenty years ago and is one of the most comprehensive studies of musical instruments in the world. Mr. Darvishi is also the organizer of many musical festivals in Iran.

MOSHEN HAJARIAN
Born in Khoram-Abad, Iran, Mohsen Hajarian received his master of ethnomusicology from the University of Maryland at Baltimore County in 1995 and his doctor of philosophy in ethnomusicology from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1999. Although Dr. Hajarian has an extensive background in the music of the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Arab world, his expertise lies in the areas of Iranian classical music and Iranian literature and history. His doctoral dissertation, "Ghazal as a Determining Factor on the Structures of the Iranian Dastgah," explains the formative influence of the Persian poetic form of ghazal on the music of Iranian dastgah, especially its vocal version. It explores the historical, political, and cultural context of Iran in the thirteenth century and onward. Dr. Hajarian has been the editor of the quarterly Iranian Musicology since 1999.

AMENEH YOUSSEFZADEH
Iranian-born Ameneh Youssefzadeh studied musicology at Sorbonne University-Paris IV and ethnomusicology at Nanterre University-Paris X. Under the supervision of Jean During, she obtained her PhD focusing on the music of the bards of Northern Khorasan. Her area of musical interest is Khorasan and its different ethics groups: Turks, Kurds, and Persians. She has also done extensive research on music in Iran since the Islamic Revolution of 1979; a segment of her research was published as "The Situation of Music in Iran since the Revolution: the Role of Official Organizations" in the British Journal of Ethnomusicology. Ms. Youssefzadeh is the author of Les bardes du Khorassan iranien: le bakhshi et son repertoire, which is accompanied by a CD with photographs, and of numerous articles and CD compilations. Currently residing in Paris, she is an active member of the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique research team Monde Iranien and a member of the French Society of Ethnomusicology.