Mehrdad Gholami

Iranian flutist, Mehrdad Gholami, received presidential award and Iran’s National Elites Foundation scholarship to continue his training at the University of Tehran, where he studied with Dr. Azin Movahed.

During his time in Tehran, Mehrdad won numerous solo and chamber music competitions in Iran such as Fadjr International Music Festival, Iran Young Artists Competition, and Tehran Flute Competition. In the U.S., He has won concerto competitions as well as being a finalist in Texas Flute Society’s Myrna Brown Young Artist Competition.

As an orchestral player, he started with Tehran’s ensembles such as Tehran Contemporary Ensemble, Tehran City Hall Orchestra and Tehran Symphony. Other orchestral appearances include Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Fort Worth symphony and McKinney Philharmonic.

A recipient of Susan and Ford Schumann fellowship in 2017, Mehrdad attended Aspen Music Festival, where he served as Aspen Contemporary Ensemble for three consecutive summers (2017-19). Other fellowships include Atlantic Music Festival’s contemporary ensemble fellowship served on Summer 2021.

Mehrdad started working with composers and devoted his time to commission, premiere and record new sounds for flute with various ensembles. These collaborations with Iranian composers led to the creation of more than hundreds of new pieces for flute with different ensembles and media. Mehrdad’s efforts in presenting, performing and publishing new Iranian music has led to a growth of compositions by Iranian composers and similar projects inspired by his “Iran Flute Project”. His most recent album, This Vast Sky, was published in July 2024.

Mehrdad is the Assistant Professor of Flute at Western Washington University and coordinator of the woodwinds area.