Shiraz Arts Festival

Stamp of the Shiraz Art Festival, 1975

The Shiraz-Persepolis Festival of Arts was an arts festival held annually from 1967 to 1977 in the Iranian city of Shiraz. Its creation was suggested by Queen and Empress of Iran Farah Pahlavi and sponsored by National Iranian Radio & Television. The festival included music, dance and theater, performed in the ruins of Persepolis, and attracted national and international artists, including Peter Brook, John Cage, Joseph Chaikin, Merce Cunningham, Jerzy Grotowski, Bimillah Khan, Vilayat Khan, Ram Narayan, Yehudi Menuhin, Gordon Mumma, Parisa, Arthur Rubinstein, Valda Setterfield, Ravi Shankar, Uma Sharma, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Shuji Terayama, Trần Văn Khê, David Tudor, and Iannis Xenakis. Following the Iranian Revolution, the festival was discontinued. ^[1]

Gallery [edit]

Shahre Gheseh by Bijan Mofid, 1968
Moon and Leopard by Bijan Mofid, 1970
Persepolis Event, Douglas Dunn (left), Carolyn Brown (rear) and Merce Cunningham (right)
Stockhausen's Mantra on 2 September 1972, Aloys and Alfons Kontarsky, pianos, electronics by the composer (foreground)
David Tudor (left) and John Cage performing at the 1971 festival
Farah Pahlavi talking to Farzaneh Ta'idi, Ali Nasirian, and Ezzatolah Entezami
Ravi Shankar performs at the Shiraz Arts Festival in the 1970s
Ram Narayan performs at the Shiraz Arts Festival in the 1970s
Faramarz Payvar, Jalil Shahnaz & Hossein Tehrani
Parisa performs at the Shiraz Arts Festival 1967