Daniel Reza Sabzghabaei

Daniel Reza Sabzghabaei is a creator who is interested in looking at time through different lenses: unpacking notions of tradition, exploring memories of those past, and investigating nostalgic frameworks that lean forward. His music has been commissioned and presented by organizations including the GRAMMY-winning New York Youth Symphony, JACK Quartet, Ensemble Proton Bern, National Sawdust, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Loadbang, the Duisburg Philharmonic, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Hub New Music, Intimacy of Creativity Festival, the American Composers Orchestra, the Bergamot Quartet, TAK Ensemble, Beth Morrison Projects, the New York Festival of Song, bassist Robert Black, the Banff Centre, Contemporaneous, the MATA festival, Vincent Lucas [principal flute, Orchestre de Paris], Guerilla Opera, the Moab Music Festival, Chorus Austin, the Young New Yorkers Chorus, Pro Coro Canada, The Esoterics, OPERA America, and VocalEssence, among others. He has held residencies at the I-Park Foundation, Copland House, the Banff Centre, the Ellis Beauregard Foundation, the Lake George Music Festival, and the Busan Choral Festival. Some of his prizes include a First Music Commission from the New York Youth Symphony, the Maurice Gardner Prize from the American Viola Society, the Israel/Pellman Prize from the Society for New Music, a 2024 New Music USA Creator Fund Award, and an IDEA Grant from OPERA America.

He holds a doctorate from Cornell University and is currently a GATES Postdoctoral Fellow at Université Grenoble Alpes. Outside of music and interdisciplinary projects, Daniel also translates Persian poetry.

In 2025, Daniel was invited to experience the Warsaw Autumn festival and attend workshops as part of his ULYSSES Journey.