Farid Allahwerdi -- Profile

Picture taken at the King

Faisal II Hall

on March 6, 1953

Baghdad Philharmonic Society

From left:

Vartan Manoogian-violin, Sandu Albu-violin, Julian Hertz- piano, Farid Allawerdi-viola and André Thoerè- Chello

Farid Allahwerdi (b. 1923 in Basra, Iraq- d. February 2, 07 in Bublin, Ireland)

A composer of modern music and a member of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM). In 1948 he graduated from Law College of University of Baghdad. He studied composition in Paris, Moscow and New York. In 1950, Allahwerdi earned a diploma in violin and piano from the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad. He then completed a Master's degree in Music Composition from The Hunter College in NY. His compositions include "Al-Mansooriyya" symphonic poem, which aired on Moscow radio in 1958, and 'Fantasy' for solo violin, and have been performed by many notable performers including Quatuor Margand, the Yasuda Ken-Ishiro String Quartet, the Moscow Radio and TV Symphony Orchestra, Najmi Succari, Vartan Manoogian and Igor Chernyavsky.

Allahwerdi taught musical eduaction, theory and instruments, mainly viola and violin, at Baghdad's Fine Arts Institute (for 25 years) and at The Academy of Fine Arts of Baghdad University (for five years). For over a decade, Farid also taught at the Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan. He has received many prizes including the Prix D'Honneur de L'Ecole Nationale de Musique de Saint-Brieuc in 1952. In 1995 he was awarded Honorary Certificate from the Arab League of Music for contribution and promotion of Arabic Music

Allahwerdi lived in Dublin, Ireland, for four years until his death.