André Hossein

André Aminollah Hossein, born Aminulla Huseynov, also known as Aminollah Hossein (; ; 1905, Samarkand – 9 August 1983, Paris) was a French composer of Iranian Azerbaijani origin and a tar soloist. Hossein is regarded as one of the first 20th-century composers to integrate traditional Persian musical modes into Western symphonic structure. He belonged to the generation of émigré intellectuals who bridged Eastern and European artistic traditions in the interwar years. After his academic formation in Russia and Germany, he settled permanently in France, where he became a respected composer, conductor, and pianist. His works, such as Symphony of Persepolis and Rhapsodie Persane, demonstrate an interest in reviving ancient Persian mythological and spiritual themes through modern orchestral language. Critics often compared his music to that of Alexander Borodin and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for its use of Oriental colors and narrative tone. A versatile artist, Hossein also wrote ballets, concertos, and film scores, some in collaboration with his son Robert Hossein, a leading French actor-director. Throughout his career, he defended the idea of a “universal Orientalism” — a dialogue between