Sahba Aminikia

Sahba Aminikia (born August 27, 1981) is an Iranian-born American contemporary music composer, artistic director, performer, educator and a TED Fellow. Aminikia is the founder and the artistic director of Flying Carpet Festival, the first performing arts festival for children living in war zones. His musical compositions have been widely performed around the world by contemporary classical ensembles orchestras, and bands, including the Kronos Quartet, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, San Francisco Girls Chorus, Mahsa Vahdat, Marjan Vahdat, Shahram Nazeri, International Contemporary Ensemble, Verdigris Ensemble, Carnegie Hall Ensemble Connect, Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra, Akron Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Parnassus, Ensemble Elefant, ZOFO Duet, San Francisco Conservatory of Music New Music Ensemble, Mobius Trio, Delphi Trio, Amaranth Quartet, The Living Earth Show, Verdigris Ensemble, Music of Remembrance, One Found Sound, and Afghanistan National Institute of Music. Early years Sahba Aminikia was born in 1981 in Tehran, Iran; during the Iran-Iraq War. Raised during a religious theocracy, in a poetic yet chaotic society, he had been exposed to the influences of poets such as Hafiz, Rumi