Alireza Mortazavi, born in 17 September 1976 in Esfahan, Iran, is a contemporary composer and Santoor player with a unique and personal style. He spent about 12 years learning and performing Iranian traditional music and in his teenage years he has received several rewards, which show his great expertise in the traditional Iranian repertoire. Contacts with other music genres, especially western music, allowed him to form his own personal, more contemporary style. He studied Musicology in Cremona, Italy, from 2001 to 2003. In the same period, he began playing concerts around Europe.
He participated in notable events, such as shows of the Bayern Radio-Television and also contributed in many festivals including "Progetto Jazz" in Cremona and the Rudolstadt Festival in Germany. In 2003 he went back to Iran and continued his artistic activities, evolving his personal style.
During the years while he lived in Iran, he began training students, and designed an instrument called Santoor-Piano, that allows to play in different keys without returning the instrument. In this period, he released the album “Now and Then” and contributed to “Clouds”, published by Hermes Records, Iran. In 2007 he was invited to Germany to perform in several concerts, including the Total Music Meeting festival in Berlin.
In 2012 he moved to Turin, Italy, and began his research work in music and started his education at the faculty of Arts, Music and Performance (DAMS). In this period, he performed and was interviewed in numerous radio programs in Italy, Germany and Switzerland, and toured around Europe for several concerts.
Notable collaborations include the performance at the Mittelfest with trumpeter Markus Stockhausen, some collaboration with the Italian singer and composer Franco Battiato and a duet concert with Anja Lechner German cellist In 2017. He composed a piece for Strings, Oboe, Santoor and Soprano Base on a “Cantata Sacro Profana”. This composition was played in Italy along other compositions by Mozart, Verdi and Morricone.
Among the albums in which he is present, it can be named "Hamdelaneh" (Intimate Dialogues), a duet album with Markus Stockhausen in Italy released by Dark Companion records in 2019 in Italy and a Trio album "Free Sprits" with Markus Stockhausen and Lino Capra Vaccina in 2022, always with the same record company.
During these years he lived various musical experiences, writing music and collaborating in the field of jazz, electronic music, film music.