Winner of the 2024 Hoefer Prize, Shahab Paranj is an Iranian-American composer, conductor, instrumentalist, and educator whose work brings Persian and contemporary classical music into a distinctive musical dialogue. He serves as Director of the Center for Iranian Music at UCLA and is the founder and Music Director of The Iranshahr Orchestra. Praised by the San Francisco Examiner as “extraordinary” and by composer John Adams for his “unique voice,” Paranj has collaborated with leading artists and ensembles internationally. He is also the founder and Artistic Director of du vert à l’infini, a contemporary music festival he established in France in 2018.