An Interview with Kimia Koochakzadeh. By Sam Meadahl

Kimia Koochakzadeh is a 2nd year music composition student at Simon Fraser University. we sat down for a brief interview to discuss her background, as well as some of her artistic influences.

Who are you and what do you do?

My Name is Kimia Koochakzadeh, and I am an Iranian composer, musician sound artist. I studied at Tehran music school for 6 years, where I got my diploma in piano performance. I Moved to Canada 2 years ago, currently studying both acoustic and electroacoustic music composition at SFU.

How has your practice changed over time?

I hadn’t pictured myself as a composer until I came to SFU, I had planned to be a piano performer. But after experiencing contemporary art, I decided I wanted to study electroacoustic music and acoustic composition. I am not sure if there is a certain work in particular that struck me, but I was suddenly exposed to a large amount of contemporary art.

What do you most enjoy doing?

Working. I am a workaholic, I enjoy Problem solving and I get the most pleasure out of challenging myself and finding solutions to any problems that come up when creating my pieces.

Name 3 artists you would like to be compared to.

Probably Milton Babbit, Pauline Oliveros, and Kaaija Saariaho. This is because I relate with their music, there are elements of the music that inspires me. one piece that struck me was Noa Noa by Kaaija Saariaho, which is a piece for flute and electronics. The way she incorporated articulations, the highly expressive quality of the piece, and the way she created a whole world with the electronics was very inspiring.

Have there been any memorable responses to your work?

In my first year at SFU, during the reading session for my final composition, at the end of my piece Mark Mcgreggor (flute player) said bravo after the last bar/ending. It was shocking and gave me confidence to continue.

Here is a link to her latest work, Fractions, for prepared piano.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxRv1xwy6pA&feature=share