The Persian Mahasti Kamdar comes from a family of artists. She attended a private ballet school at the age of five. At the age of eight, with the support of her parents, she began her studies at the Tehran Conservatory of Music, majoring in violin and minoring in piano. During her studies she received several prizes and awards. At the age of 14, she began her professional career as first violinist with the Tehran Radio String Quartet. At 15, she became concertmaster of the Iranian Radio Youth Chamber Orchestra. Along the way, she was the only teenager to play all the concerts in the first violin section with the Iranian Radio Chamber Orchestra. At the age of 17, she received a permanent engagement in this ensemble. In Iran, she also worked several times as an actress in cinema, television and theater. After the revolution she emigrated to Germany to continue her studies. During her studies she was engaged in the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz in the first violin section. Three years later she joined the Heidelberg Philharmonic Orchestra, also in the first violins. Mahasti Kamdar founded the successful duo PersAl with the concertmaster of the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, with whom she gave many concerts and made recordings in the studio. In 2003 she founded the women's string quartet »Philharmonic Stars«, of which she is primaria and leader. Numerous concerts at home and abroad consolidated the reputation of the ensemble as »fascinating artists with unusual repertoire«. Mahasti Kamdar writes her own musical arrangements, which she successfully performs with »Philharmonic Stars«. 16 of them have been published so far, and a CD entitled »Gold Finger« has been released. Mahasti Kamdar won the first prize for »Best Arrangements for Strings 2008« in London.
Mahasti Kamdar
