Jazmourian Ensemble
Jazmourian Ensemble was formed in 2019 by two musicians, from Iran and Australia, who were inspired by the question, “What do the music of the east and west have in common?” Ahura Charghouyeh a setar master native to Iran, together with Anna McDonald, an internationally renowned baroque violinist who now plays the kamancheh, created their new idea of an ensemble while travelling together in Iran and Armenia for three years. Their music was inspired by the mountains and deserts of these ancient lands, and by the old Persian idea of music – that it is a sacred conversation between friends. In 2021 they recorded their first CD of music, “Karavankosh”: four original compositions written for the unusual but beautiful combination of Iranian setar and kamancheh.
The Jazmourian Ensemble is delighted to be Ensemble-in-Residence at the Australian National Univeristy (ANU) School of Music. Through teaching, performances and creating new work they contribute to intercultural dialogue and interdisciplinary creativity. Guiding students in improvisation and composition through participation the Songroads Ensemble, they have also performed their original works in the Ainslie Arts Centre, Drill Hall Gallery, Braidwood Concert Series and other national venues.
About Us
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Ahura Charghouyeh
Ahura Charghouyeh (Iranian citizen, Permanent Resident of Australia) is an international composer and performer specialising in interdisciplinary artistic practise. He is a artist in residence at the ANU School of Music. Born into a ethnic family in Kerman Province, Iran, he studied setar with Mohammadreza Lotfi, and with other ethnic masters in Khorosan (dotar), Kurdestan and Kerman.
A book chapter, “Music and the Sphere in Persian Unified Creative Practise” has recently been published by Bloomsbury press: illustrating multidisciplinary influences of Iranian philosophy on music and architecture. Ahura is a PhD candidate at the ANU School of Music, exploring intersections between Persian Indigenous creative practise and Australian Indigenous music practise.
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Anna McDonald
Anna’s musical journey on her first instrument, the violin, has led her to performances in Europe, North and South America, Scandinavia, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, South Africa and her native country, Australia. After post-graduate study with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, she became a baroque violinist based in London for ten years. Leading the Gabrieli Consort and Players, Hanover Band and Avison Ensemble, she has been concertmaster and soloist in many recordings for Deutsche Grammophon Archiv, CPO, Channel Classics, Harmonia Mundi, and ABC Classics in Australia. In 2018 she undertook a composer’s residency at Golden Vale, Sutton Forest, supported by the Prelude Residency program of the Bundanon Trust.
She brings her vast experience in baroque repertoire and style to playing and composing on the Iranian kamancheh, an instrument she studied for three years in Iran and Armenia with Ahura, an Iranian music master. Anna has documented her intercultural journey with the kamancheh through the lens of Mithraism and Zoroastrianism in a PhD granted by the Australian National University (ANU, 2023). She is now artist-in-residence and lecturer at the ANU School of Music.
Through her love of performance psychology, Anna also works with clients internationally, combining her experience as a performer with embodied approaches to creativity (see www.attunementsessions.com).
This is a new creative space from an encounter between two musicians from east and west. We believe that our worlds are reflected in each other, and that by bridging the past and the future we create an enchanted world in the present.
