TEHRAN -- Iranian composer and theatre director Saeed Zehni was honored at Tehran’s House of Theatre, as colleagues and former students reflected on a career spanning stage music, directing, teaching and composition for film and television.
The ceremony also marked the unveiling of an album of Zehni’s film music, bringing together work from a career in which music has repeatedly served as part of the dramatic architecture of a production rather than as a separate accompaniment.
Among those recalling Zehni’s contribution was theatre director and actor Muhammad Rahmanian, who highlighted his music for Hamid Samandarian’s production of Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle.
The production occupies an important place in the history of Iranian theatre, and Zehni’s contribution was cited as an example of the way his musical work became closely integrated with the theatrical language of major productions.
Director and actor Tajbakhsh Fanaeian recalled encountering Zehni during his years as a student at the University of Tehran, while composer and theatre practitioner Ayoub Aghakhani spoke of his ability to stimulate students intellectually and creatively.
Actor and director Mikaeil Shahrestani likewise emphasized Zehni’s broader identity as an artist, reflecting a career that has moved between several disciplines without separating composition from theatrical practice.
Born in Tehran in 1967, Zehni studied theatre directing at the University of Tehran’s Faculty of Fine Arts. His musical education included studies in composition and related disciplines with several prominent Iranian musicians and composers.
He later worked as a composer for theatre, cinema and television and also appeared as a guest conductor with the Tehran Symphony Orchestra.
His theatre work has been accompanied by a longstanding commitment to teaching and professional collaboration. Colleagues at the tribute described his influence on successive generations of artists, while also stressing the importance of preserving and documenting music created for Iranian stage and screen.
The release of the film-music album was presented in that context: as part of a broader effort to keep Zehni’s work accessible beyond the productions for which it was originally created.
For Zehni, however, the ceremony represented less a conclusion than a continuation. The commemoration, he suggested, should serve as the beginning of renewed attention to his work and further creative activity.
That emphasis gives the tribute its larger significance: a recognition of a theatre artist whose music has remained embedded in the memory of productions while continuing to seek a life beyond the stage.