Kimia Koochakzadeh-Yazdi

Kimia Koochakzadeh-Yazdi (b. 1997, Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian composer, performer, and interdisciplinary artist currently based in San Francisco, USA. She writes for hybrid instrumental and electronic ensembles, creates electroacoustic and audiovisual works, builds instruments, and performs electronic music. Her practice explores the relationship between the familiar and unfamiliar, driven by questions of perception, motion, interaction, and the mechanisms of human experience.

As a cross-disciplinary artist, Koochakzadeh-Yazdi has collaborated on projects spanning dance, film, theatre, fashion, and media art. Her work explores intersections between Iranian musical traditions and contemporary classical and electronic practices, creating new sonic relationships between acoustic instruments, technology, and embodied performance.

She holds a BFA in Music Composition from Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in Composition at Stanford University. Her work has been presented internationally at festivals and platforms including Ars Electronica, Tehran Contemporary Sounds, Sonic Matter Festival, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, and Modulus Festival, and has been featured in publications including The New York Times, MusicWorks Magazine, Vancouver Sun, and Sequenza 21.