Welcome to the website of Hossein Hadisi, composer and ethnomusicologist working on improvisational models in Persian and Middle Eastern musical and theatrical traditions. Hossein studied his PhD in Composition with Professor Michael Finnissy at the University of Southampton, where his work on the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám led to composing “Wine of the Mystic”. His research project at Cambridge started with a study of the history and current trends in Persian storytelling art of Naqqàli. The result of this research was the stage-work based on the ancient Persian Book of Kings, Firdausi’s Shahnama: “Zahhák: Dragon King of Persia” (produced in collaboration with Cambridge Shahnama Centre, British Academy’s British Institute for Persian Studies, Iran Heritage Foundation and the 4th UK Iranian Film Festival and supported by the Cultural Engagement Fund of the Arts and Humanities Research Council).

Hossein Hadisi is also the founder of Maqam Encyclopaedia (2011-2018, Darwin College, Cambridge), an online encyclopaedia of Persian and Middle Eastern modes. Maqám Encyclopaedia compares different renditions of each Maqám by displaying the recordings, scores and scholarly text available. It also creates a multi-dimensional family-tree of Maqáms and enables comparison by interval, geographic distribution, language and country.