Arash Rokni

Arash Rokni was born in Tehran, Iran. His mother’s attempts at learning the traditional Iranian instrument “Setar” and his father’s interest in western classical music gave him his interest in music. As a child, he divided his time between playing, reading literature and learning Persian classical poetry with his brother and had some recieving piano lessons from the age of 6. At the age of 15, Arash entered Tehran Music School under the tutelage of Tamara Dolidze, who was a huge inspiration for the path Arash chose since then.

After being guided in Armenia by Giorgi Raphaelowitch Avanesov and Ashot Ghazarian, he began to study under Markus Tomas at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig and later under Claudio Martinez Mehner at the “Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln”. He is also mentored by Nina Tichman (piano) and Anthony Spiri (chamber music).
Arash has also had the privilege to have worked with Ferenc Rados, Rita Wagner, Andreas Kemenes, Mahan Esfahani, Andreas Staier and Robert Levin.

He has given concerts and participated in festivals and competitions in Iran, Armenia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Denmark. He won the Fourth Prize at the “Aarhus International Piano Competition” and the Second Prize and the Audience Prize at the “21st Johann Sebastian Bach Competition” in Leipzig, Germany.
In the field of chamber music, he has worked with many great musicians. Together with pianist, Julia Polinskaja, they founded the piano Duo “Noema” and have given concerts in Germany and Spain.

His interest in the field of Performance Practice of the 18th century led to him studying Fortepiano with Gerald Hambitzer and being mentored by Michael Borgstede (harpsichordist) in Cologne.