Maestro Dr. Dariush Safvat Mahur Santur

Grand Maestro Dr. Dariush Safvat, Iranian well-known musician and respectful music scholar, was born in 1928 in Iran. He got his BA in Law from the University of Tehran in 1953 and received his PhD in International Law from the Paris School of Law in 1965. He has served as the Professor of Music at the Faculty of Fine Arts, the University of Tehran and also at the University of Art, Tehran, Iran. He is the author of several books and many articles and papers. His major administrative positions include memberships at the Research Council, Musicological Institute of Iran, 1975-1979; Society of Philosophy of Iran, 1976-1979; Committee of Humanities and Social Sciences; Scientific Research Council, Ministry of Science and Technology, 1976; and Acoustic Council of Iran, 1978-1979. He has also been the Director of the Center for Preservation and Dissemination of Iranian Music since 1968 and also the Head of the Center, 1979-1982; the Head of the Center for Children and the Youth Music; the Head of the Department of Music, University of Tehran, 1981-94; and the Head of the Educational Center of Music, Academic Complex of Arts, 1983-86. Dr. Safvat's other major memberships include the following: Research Council, Iranian Musicological Research Institute, Iran, 1975-79; Committee of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ministry of Science, Iran, 1976; Research Council on Humanities and Social Sciences, Ministry of Science, Iran, 1978; Acoustical Society of Iran, 1978-79; and the Fellow of the Iranian Academy of Sciences, 1990-present. He is a great master of the Radif, the traditional repertory of Persian classical music and a highly respectful performer of Persian classical music on the setar and santur. In 2006 he was awarded the medal of the Chevalier De L'ordre Des Arts et Des Lettres.