What or who inspired you to create the Youth Orchestra of Iran?

My experience in teaching the young pupils on one side and the decline in musical activities and livelihood of musical life in my country on the other side brought me to this conclusion that investing in music and musical performance for the youth is of prime importance. Unfortunately the lack of interest in the government to spread music and musical activity has brought the situation to what is almost close to an end to serious and artistic musical events, I personally had the idea but luckily exactly at the time when I was planning to found the orchestra a student of mine who is now in Switzerland and works in Superar (an El Sistema-inspired institution) informed me about a great event in Istanbul organized by Bruno Campo and Etienne Abelin which was the Sistema Europe Youth Orchestra (SEYO 2014) so I attended the event and got to know more about El Sistema and it's ideology and the performance there had a great impact on me to know more about the standards and possibilities in music performance and education.

How is Youth Orchestra of Iran formed (number of students, instruments, choirs, etc.) and how is the staff formed?

At the beginning we were a group of 7 musicians who started the project to establish the orchestra, but they all left the group for personal reasons and I am personally managing, organizing and conducting it by my self. This Orchestra is founded by the players of the orchestra who pay a monthly payment to rent a Theatre Plato and hire a number of teachers to help with the job, a specialist in wind instruments and another one in string instruments . There are almost 60 players in the orchestra now and I'm planning to rise the quality of the Orchestra by inviting players of a bit older age (up to 25) to take part in the orchestra.

What tools do you use for repertoire search and selection?

As a university professor who teaches history of western music I have an almost adequate knowledge about the types genres of music so in the first hand I chose the repertoire based on my personal knowledge having in mind the level of the students, and also I cooperate with some professional musicians to play solo pieces to inspire the kids and also risen the level of the orchestra .I have also received a manual of El Sistema repertoire but since there are some instrumentalists that we don't have in Iran I get limited to a narrower range of repertoire.

What have been the challenges to overcome in the development of your Orchestra?

The greatest challenge is the lack of expert music teachers and also an atmosphere of a great pessimism among the musicians in any artistic activity due to the politic and ideologic situation in Iran which has made them to become marginated and isolated, this has lead the project to a loop of training young students who leave the orchestra as soon as they have a performance and finding very limited out come or feedbacks, so I must start from the beginning with newly attended players not to mention low standard instruments, and shortage of suitable places to practice .

What has been your greatest satisfaction throughout the development of the Orchestra?

My greatest satisfaction has been to bring back the musical life to society, to give the firm conviction to the young students themselves and finally to give hope to my people that the music is not dead and still rules.

What indicators and factors define the success of the Youth Orchestra of Iran?

The number of performances in each year and the repertoire they play.

What are the most important goals you want to achieve with your work with this orchestra?

I would like to spread the idea and belief in the young generation that music should be performed so much both in quantity and quality that it becomes a part of my people's daily life and thoughts. To make every one think and believe that without music life has no meaning and also train my people how to understand music. My country is not a very happy and lively country, so performing music might be of great help.

How have social networks used to connect with other musical programs around the world?

Very much, I have found wonderful friends and colleagues but honestly I must confess that -in person -contacts have been more important in this process.

What would you say to other music teachers and leaders of El Sistema around the world?

I would like to say please support IYO and announce its presence loudly we are a new member of this family. My country and the government doesn't support music and musical activities and my job as a charity volunteer teacher needs support so that maybe there would be an ear to hear our voice to help us with our daily struggles. Thanks to your support and concern.