TEHRAN -- The legacy of Iranian composer Rouhollah Khaleghi and its relevance to a new generation of musicians took centre stage at the fourth Rouhollah Khaleghi National Composition Award, where organizers and music scholars called for a renewed engagement with Iranian musical identity through contemporary composition.
The awards ceremony, held at Roudaki Hall in Tehran, recognized composers and researchers across orchestral, chamber, mythological, vocal and music research categories. 
The event brought together leading musicians, conductors, academics and cultural officials, including Babak Rezaei, director-general of the Ministry of Culture’s Music Office, and Arash Amini, conductor and secretary of the 42nd Fajr Music Festival.
The scale of participation marked a significant development for the independently organized award. According to Muhammadreza Azizi, its secretary, 73 compositions and three research projects were submitted this year, compared with 12 compositions in the inaugural edition, 18 in the second and 24 in the third.
Azizi emphasized the importance of sustaining cultural initiatives despite financial and organizational difficulties. He described the award as a means of passing an artistic legacy to future generations, adding that supporting young composers must extend beyond recognizing their work to creating opportunities for professional performance.
The ceremony opened with a performance by the Rouhollah Khaleghi Orchestra, conducted by Azizi. Its program included Royaye Hasti, Bazgasht, Atash-e Karvan, Be Donbal-e Del and Sabokbal, before concluding with Khaleghi’s celebrated patriotic song Ey Iran. The audience stood and joined in the final performance, bringing the ceremony’s emphasis on national musical identity into particularly vivid focus.
Composer and researcher Pirooz Arjmand, secretary of the 18th Regional Music Festival, stated that the challenge facing contemporary musicians is not simply to preserve the works of earlier masters, but to make them meaningful to younger audiences. He called for a new musical discourse rooted in Khaleghi’s melodies, capable of bringing historical identity into dialogue with contemporary artistic expression.
Music scholar Babak Khazraei highlighted another dimension of Khaleghi’s legacy: the intellectual content of his compositions. Referring to the philosopher Al-Farabi’s understanding of musical expression as a form of reasoned thought, he said that Khaleghi embodied this principle through his compositions, teaching and historical writings.
The competition results reflected the range of approaches represented in contemporary Iranian composition. In the orchestral category, Muhammad-Ali Vashagh won first prize for Nakhaaneh Shodan, followed by Seyyed-Ali Peyghambarzadeh for Khat-e Kufi-ye Seda and Sohrab Shahidi for Elegy for a Slain Dream.
In chamber music, Hassan Rahimi received first prize for Roodbar. Seyyed-Ali Peyghambarzadeh took second place with Metamorphosis, while Muhammad-Amin Adloo received third prize for Lullaby for String Quartet.
No first prize was awarded in the mythological category. Seyyed-Sajjad Sharifnia won second prize for Dance of Zahhak, and Ali Abedian received third prize for The Secret of Rostam.
In the vocal category, Milad Aghaei won first prize for Khayyam Cantata. Parastoo Shafiei received second prize for Dance of the Swallow, while Sohrab Shahidi and Ehsan Sarhangi Izadmousa shared third place.
The festival secretary’s special award went to Arman Talebpour for Me and the Night. Research prizes recognized Erfan Akbari Afrazi’s study of the modal organization and orchestration of Ey Iran, and Reza Abbasi’s psychological examination of Khaleghi’s life and personality through historical documents.
Looking beyond the awards, organizers announced that selected works from all four editions are expected to be performed at the Fajr Music Festival in a program titled Night of Young Composers.