Navid Bargrizan

Biography

At VU, Navid Bargrizan teaches music composition, musicianship, and music history; directs VUNUMU (Valparaiso University New Music Ensemble); and collaborates as composer and performer with ValpLork (Valparaiso University Laptop Orchestra). He also sang as a member of Bach Choir in the 2022 memorable performance of J. S. Bach’s B-minor Mass at VU’s Cappel of Resurrection.

Nearly all of Bargrizan’s compositions mainly explore intonational and tuning concepts, both in acoustic and electroacoustic contexts. Since he moved from Hamburg, Germany to the USA in 2012, his experiments with microtonality and electronics have resulted in approximately twenty premieres and more than seventy performances of his works in the North America and Europe, for instance at New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, Toronto International Electroacoustic Symposium, Eastern Music Festival, Florida Contemporary Music Festival, Midwest Music Consortium, Conferences of the Society of Composers, Inc., Mikrotöne Symposia at Mozarteum Salzburg, and Modern Mondays Concert Series in Copenhagen, as well as at Art NOW and Pro Musica concert series in North Carolina. Virtuoso musicians and ensembles such as Laurent Estoppey, Steve Stusek, Susan Fancher, Tolgahan Çoğulu, Jonas Frølund, Katharina Uhde, Boston String Quartet, Bold City Contemporary Ensemble, and Galan Trio have performed and recorded his works, and he was a 2018 Composer-In-Residence of the Harn Museum of Art (Gainesville, Florida). For his woodwind quintet Tuning Exercise No. 1 and his piece for microtonal adjustable guitar Se-Chahar-Gah, American Prize for Composition chose him as a finalist in its 2017 and 2020 editions, and his music is published under Navona and Ravello labels by Parma Recordings, as well as by Mahoor Institute and Edition Zalzal.

Dr. Bargrizan’s research projects examine the music-philosophical and music-theoretical ideas of composers Manfred Stahnke, Harry Partch, Mozart, and Roger Waters, as well as the singer and author Carla Henius. They have led to publications in the USA, Canada, Germany, Austria, and Turkey, such as in the Journal of the Society for American Music, eContact! Online Journal for Electroacoustic Practices, Systematische Musikwissenschaft: Popular Music Studies Today, and Müzik Bilim Dergisi: Journal of Musicology. He has presented aspects of his research at several conferences, including the national meetings of the Society for Music Theory, American Musicological Society, German Studies Association, Society for American Music, and International Association of the Study of Popular Music, as well as in Berlin, Kassel, Vienna, Salzburg, Lucca, Toronto, Ottawa, and Istanbul. He has received awards such as a one-year DAAD Postdoctoral Fellowship, DAAD Short-Term and DAAD German Studies Scholarships, Tedder Fellowship of the Center for Humanities and Public Sphere of the University of Florida, UF Faculty Research Incentive Award, UF Graduate School Doctoral Research Award, and UF Best of College of the Arts Creative Research Award, as well as grants from Institut für neue Musik und Musikerziehung Darmstadt, International Ekmelik Music Society Salzburg, and International Office of the Universität Hamburg.

As a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music Composition and Theory, as well as Adjunct Lecturer of General Humanities and German Language, Bargrizan taught at the University of Florida. At this institution and Universität Hamburg, he earned degrees in Music History and Literature; Music Composition, Theory and Technology; Systematic Musicology; and Art History. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Music (Theory and History) at Texas A&M University-Commerce and Instructor of German Language at Dallas Goethe Center. Bargrizan’s personal website, www.navidbargrizan.com, contains comprehensive links to his performances, recordings, writings, syllabi, and much more.