Saina Zamanian


 

Biography

Saina Zamanian was born in 1994 in Tehran, Iran. Her musical journey began at the age of seven when she started learning the piano. At twelve, she enrolled at the Tehran Music Conservatory, where she chose the tār as her main instrument. Her rapid progress in mastering Iranian music led to her winning first prize at Tehran’s "Fine Arts Festival" in just her second year at the conservatory.

Saina studied tār and setār under renowned masters such as Hooshang Zarif, Hossein Alizādeh, and Dāryush Talāyi. She continued her education at Tehran University of Art, where she was recognized as the top student of her cohort. This distinction allowed her to enter the master’s program in Iranian music without taking an entrance exam. During her master’s studies at Tehran Music University, she again earned the title of top student.

While still a student, she released her first music album titled "11 Tasnifs by Ali-naqi Vaziri," a re-interpretation of eleven lesser-known compositions from Vaziri, one of the most prominent figures in modern Iranian music. The album offered a different perspective on this influential composer’s lesser-known works. Additionally, she served as the director of the Saba Music Festival in Tehran for two seasons during her studies.

In the final year of her master’s program, Saina began teaching at the Tehran Music Conservatory, where she had once been a student. Over the course of three years, she taught "Music Theory" and "Iranian Music Orchestration." After completing her master’s degree, she released her second album, "Rahgoon," a solo tār performance.

Saina has performed at numerous international festivals, including the Moqām Festival in Uzbekistan, where she and her group won second prize, and the Folk Music Festival in Malaysia. She has also collaborated with musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds and worked with the Tehran Music Museum on two Iranian music festivals.

Currently, Saina is pursuing a PhD at Jean Monnet University in France. In the same year she began her PhD, she released her third album, "11 Duets by Ali-naqi Vaziri." Alongside her musical career, Saina is fluent in English and German, and has translated two academic articles from German and a book from English into Persian.

 

She now resides in France, continuing her studies and musical pursuits.