Farshad Abbasabadi was born in 1992 in Kermanshah, western Iran. He started his musical path by playing the Persian wind instrument Ney, having lessons with virtuosos, Kaveh Sarvarian and Siamak Jahangiri. He enrolled in the university of Tehran to study performance of Iranian classical music, but early on he decided to continue more towards composition and singing, gaining knowledge from master classes by Iranian composers Alireza Khiabani and Arshia Samsaminia in the field of composition. As a singer, he was guided by the Iranian tenor Ramtin Ghazavi and Behrang Shegarfkar, though in both of the fields he had to develop and study mostly individually. When he joined the Austrian Cultural Forum in Tehran as a choir member and later as a Soloist, he had the opportunity to benefit from masterclasses by the German baritone Rafael Fingerlos and Conductor Gerhard Lessky who had a residency in Tehran for a month.
Abbasabadi’s list of works includes compositions for solo instruments, voice, chamber ensembles and symphony orchestra, including an opera which despite the collaboration of singers and a producer, did not reach the professional recording phase with an orchestra, as at that time it was hard with the laws set by the government in Iran to get permission for works that included women soloists.
In 2017, he was invited to participate in the Charlotte New Music Festival (USA) as a guest composer, but was not granted a US visa due to the ban on Iranian citizens entering the country that year. While living in Tehran, he sang in some vocal ensembles including Austrian Cultural forum ensemble and worked shortly as a teacher in private institutes. After participating in a remote audition during the pandemic, in his late twenties, he got a position in the chorus of Klaipeda state music theater in Lithuania, where he later in 2022 by participating in a soloist audition in the same theatre, got a permanent baritone soloist position. He performed roles such as the Forester in Dvořák’s opera Rusalka, Marshal and Count’s Second in B. Kutavičius’s opera The Bear (Lokys), Belkore in Donizetti’s opera elisir d’amore, the baritone solo in Carmina Burana as well as covering 2 roles in Philip Glass opera Voyage.
Farshad has been awarded several prizes in international competitions including 15 minutes of fame international composition competition, first prize winner of Ramtin Ghazavi 1st Classical singing competiton for Iranians and winner of the first lets sing opera competition.
Meanwhile, some of his compositional works were performed in Lithuania, US and Iran, including some that he performed as a composer performer in collaborations with other musicians in Lithuania in different music styles.
Since 2024, he is a permanent member of the opera chorus of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Antwerp Belgium, where he is based and continues his musical activities.
Farshad Abbasabadi 