“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Paired with “Inner Monologues” at Vahdat Hall / Tehran Symphony Orchestra Instruments Tuned

In its final performance of the autumn season, the Tehran Symphony Orchestra took the stage at Vahdat Hall over two nights, on December 18 and 19, presenting the concert “Inner Monologues” under the leadership of Nasir Heidarian.

Roudaki Foundation: the third and final autumn concert of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, titled “Inner Monologues,” was held at Vahdat Hall, featuring performances of two works from the global classical repertoire and contemporary Iranian composition, conducted by Nasir Heidarian.

In the first part of the concert, the string section appeared on stage to perform the Overture to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Op. 21) by German composer Felix Mendelssohn. Subsequently, with the addition of the remaining musicians, Symphony No. 1 “Inner Monologues” by Iranian composer Mohammadreza Tafazzoli was performed.

Tafazzoli composed this symphony in four movements. The first movement is written in sonata form, aiming to develop two ideas in parallel. The second movement is a scherzo in a compound ternary form. The third movement, “Passacaglia on a Theme by Mahler,” is a passacaglia whose main theme is derived from the coda of the first movement of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 7. The fourth movement (finale), titled “Introduction and Rondo alla Corda” (a rondo in the Kurdish style), concludes the work. In this symphony, Tafazzoli does not seek a direct representation of Iranian music; rather, he attempts to recreate its melodic logic and inner expression within a classical Western formal framework.

The dynamic rises and falls of the notes in the performance created a distinctive atmosphere throughout Vahdat Hall, capturing the audience’s attention and receiving an enthusiastic response.

At the conclusion of the concert, Mohammadreza Tafazzoli, the composer of “Inner Monologues,” was invited to the stage by Nasir Heidarian and was warmly applauded and honored by the audience.

Among those in attendance over the two nights were Mohammadreza Tafazzoli, Farimah Ghavam-Sadri, Ali Boostan, Behzad Abdi, Mani Jafarzadeh, Hamed Garschy, Arvin Sadaghatkish, Babak Khazraei, Mohammadali Merati, Paniz Firoozfi, Hossein Sharifi, Kiavash Saheb-Nasgh, Ali Jafari Poyan, Hamid Askari, Sina Khairabadi, Mehdi Ghasemi, Mohammadreza Safavi, and Bahram Jamali, accompanied by Mohammad Alahyari Fomani, CEO of the Roudaki Foundation, and Amirabbas Setayeshgar, Deputy for Cultural and Artistic Creations at the Roudaki Foundation.