Hooman
Khalatbari

Hooman Khalatbari began studying the piano at the age of six. His first piano teacher was Nayereh Rezaei (Eskouei), and he later continued his studies with Emanuel Melik-Aslanian and Lily Sarkisian.

He studied harmony and counterpoint with Fereydoun Naseri, composition with Ahmad Pejman, and orchestral conducting with Heshmat Sanjari and, later, Thomas Christian David.

Alongside his studies, Khalatbari gained extensive practical experience as a pianist and accompanist. He accompanied students from Aria Zand’s vocal class and Heshmat Sanjari’s violin class, experiences that played an important role in developing his understanding of vocal music, instrumental collaboration and accompaniment. As a pianist with the Rudaki Hall Choir and in collaboration with singers of the Tehran Opera—including Hossein Sarshar, Ahmad Parsi and Behjat Ghasri—he became closely acquainted with the operatic and classical vocal repertoire. These formative years of working with singers would later become one of the foundations of his expertise in opera, vocal coaching and working with singers across different genres.

He also participated in piano masterclasses with teachers including Nevin Afrouz, G. Gertschläger and E. Hötzel, further broadening his musical and pianistic experience.

During his university studies in Iran, Khalatbari studied the Radif and Dastgah system of Persian classical music on the Setar with Mehrbanoo Tofigh, while continuing his classical music education with teachers including Sharif Lotfi, Houshang Kamkar, Dr. Amir Ashraf Aryanpour and Kambiz Roshanravan. In 1996, he graduated from the Faculty of Music at the University of Art in Tehran.

Between 1988 and 1996, Khalatbari worked as a pianist with the Tehran Symphony Orchestra and assisted Gorgin Mousessian with the Tehran Symphony Orchestra Choir. He also worked as a pianist with the orchestra and choir of Farhangsara-ye Bahman under Mehdi Shams Niknam and assisted Professor Thomas Christian David with the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of the Austrian Cultural Institute in Tehran.

During this period, he also performed and recorded piano for the soundtracks of several Iranian feature films as well as radio and television productions. He also released two albums: Baroon Barooneh, with violinist Hossein Yousef-Zamani, and Ey Vatan, with tar player Keyvan Saket and vocalist Fazel Jamshidi.

From 1996, Khalatbari continued his advanced musical education in Austria at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (Kunstuniversität Graz).

He studied choral conducting with Rupert Huber and Johannes Prinz; orchestral conducting with Arturo Tamayo, Raffi Armenian and Martin Sieghart; and opera conducting, vocal coaching and rehearsal techniques with Wolfgang Bozic and Günter Fruhmann.

He completed his studies in orchestral and choral conducting with distinction. He also participated in masterclasses with internationally renowned conductors including Zubin Mehta, Iván Fischer, Dennis Russell Davies and Thomas Christian David.

Since 1999, Hooman Khalatbari has been working with Oper Graz and its various departments, including the Singschule. Over more than two decades, this long-standing collaboration has encompassed a wide range of artistic and musical responsibilities, including conducting, musical preparation, vocal coaching, work with singers, and participation in opera and music-theatre productions.

Among the works in which he has been involved in connection with Oper Graz in recent years are Giuseppe Verdi’s Don Carlo and La traviata, Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, Bedřich Smetana’s The Bartered Bride (Die verkaufte Braut), Kurt Weill’s One Touch of Venus, Jacques Offenbach’s La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, Leoš Janáček’s Katja Kabanova, and Nino Rota’s Il cappello di paglia di Firenze.

Further productions and projects have included Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Gioachino Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto, Hector Berlioz’s Les Troyens, Cole Porter’s Silk Stockings, Franz Lehár’s Schön ist die Welt, Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, and Jacques Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann.

His activities during the 2026/2027 season include productions of Hector Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème, Antonín Dvořák’s Rusalka, Ralph Benatzky’s Im weißen Rössl, Richard Strauss’s Elektra, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Così fan tutte.

Alongside the classical and Romantic repertoire, contemporary music and music theatre have also formed an important part of Khalatbari’s artistic work. He has collaborated on projects and productions featuring works by composers including Klaus Huber, Wolfgang Mitterer, Hans Werner Henze, Gerd Kühr and Olga Neuwirth.

Selected productions and premieres in this field include Klaus Huber’s Schwarze Erde at Theater Basel; Wolfgang Mitterer’s Dry Clean Show at steirischer herbst in Graz; Hans Werner Henze’s Pollicino at Next Liberty in Graz; Gerd Kühr’s Agleia Federweiß at Next Liberty; W. Hiller’s Peter Pan at Next Liberty; Die Reise des kleinen Prinzen at Next Liberty; and Benjamin Britten’s Noah’s Flood at Next Liberty.

Hooman Khalatbari has been closely associated with KlassikFestival Schloss Kirchstetten in Lower Austria since its early years and has served as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of its opera productions since 1998. Over more than two decades, he has conducted more than 25 opera productions at the festival, with a repertoire ranging from Mozart, Rossini and Donizetti to Verdi, Puccini and Johann Strauss.

Upcoming

Opera Productions and Projects

Khalatbari also maintains a long-standing artistic collaboration with the Virtuosi Brunenses in Brno, Czech Republic. Since 2016, he has held the title of Honorary Conductor (Ehrendirigent) of the orchestra, which has played an important role in many of the opera productions at Schloss Kirchstetten.

“Klassik unter Sternen”

Since 2010, Klassik unter Sternen has been the annual large-scale open-air concert series of KlassikFestival Schloss Kirchstetten. As Principal Conductor, Hooman Khalatbari has designed and conducted its major orchestral, choral and symphonic programmes, bringing a wide range of classical repertoire to a broad audience in the unique setting of the historic castle.

Over the years, the series has presented large-scale symphonic and choral works as well as specially conceived thematic programmes, ranging from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana to evenings devoted to Italian, Russian, French, Spanish, Viennese and American repertoire, famous ballet music, opera choruses and opera overtures.

Upcoming

The 2027 edition will commemorate the 200th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s death. The programme will include Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, Op. 80, for piano, choir and orchestra, and The Ruins of Athens (Die Ruinen von Athen), Op. 113, for two soloists, choir and orchestra. The performances will feature the Brno Philharmonic Choir and the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra of Olomouc.

Klassik unter Sternen – Complete Concert Series

Orchestral Activities

From 2014 to 2016, Hooman Khalatbari served as Principal Conductor of the Prague Metropolitan Philharmonic Orchestra in the Czech Republic. The orchestra worked primarily in film and television recording, and during this period Khalatbari conducted numerous recording projects, including works by Iranian composers. The orchestra ceased its activities in 2017.

His symphonic repertoire encompasses a wide range of works by composers including Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner, Dvořák, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Ravel, Debussy, Fauré, Glazunov, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Bartók and Stravinsky, among many others.

Persian Music and World Music

Persian music and Iranian musical culture have always formed an important part of Hooman Khalatbari’s artistic identity. His background in both Persian music and Western classical music has provided the foundation for projects that build bridges between these two musical worlds.

Among his notable projects in this field is his conducting of Simorgh by Hamid Motebassem, featuring Homayoun Shajarian as soloist. Written for an ensemble of Iranian instruments and vocal ensemble, the work was presented in large-scale performances in the Netherlands.

Khalatbari has also performed works by Ali Akbar Ghorbani with vocalist Sara Hamidi and the international Ensemble WE in Sweden, at the Tirgan Festival in Toronto, and in Switzerland, alongside other intercultural musical projects.

In late summer 2021, he founded the Shoosh Ensemble together with Sina Alam and serves as its Musical Director. Featuring Sina Alam (kamancheh), Habib Booshehri (percussion), Tadeh Yousefian (double bass) and Hooman Khalatbari (piano), the ensemble focuses on fusion and world music, particularly the music of Iran and the Middle East, combining elements of Persian musical traditions with contemporary musical approaches.

The albums Caspy, based on melodies from the Caspian region (2022), and Hoor, based on melodies from Khorasan (2023), both featuring Sina Alam as soloist, were produced during this period.

Piano and Vocal Music

Before and alongside his conducting career, Khalatbari has worked for many years as a pianist, accompanist and chamber musician.

He has collaborated with numerous singers and artists, including Pari Zanganeh, Hossein Sarshar, Googoosh, Soroush Izadi, Nasrin Asgari, Shirin Asgari, Sara Hamidi, Rashid Vatandoust, Esfandiar Gharabaghi and Ramtin Ghazavi, among others.

His extensive experience as a pianist and accompanist has contributed significantly to his specialization in vocal repertoire, opera, vocal coaching and his work with singers across different musical genres.

Television and Media

From 2010 to 2013, Hooman Khalatbari appeared as a mentor and judge, alongside Googoosh and Babak Saeidi, in three seasons of the internationally broadcast music programme Googoosh Music Academy on Manoto TV in London.

His artistic work has also been featured in various television programmes and documentaries. His performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 was featured in the documentary In Search of Happiness with Hooman Khalatbari, directed by Aram Bolandpaz.

He has also appeared in Austrian media, including ORF / Studio 2, Kurier TV and Okto TV, in connection with his artistic activities and the programmes of KlassikFestival Schloss Kirchstetten. In ORF’s Studio 2, he presented the 2026 festival programme and performed excerpts from Rossini’s L’occasione fa il ladro.

International Reach

Hooman Khalatbari’s professional activities as a conductor, pianist, accompanist, chamber musician and artistic director have taken him to numerous countries across Europe and North America, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada and the United States.

His professional activities have included performances and projects in cities such as Vienna, Graz, Salzburg, Linz and Kirchstetten in Austria; Prague, Brno and Olomouc in the Czech Republic; Budapest and Szombathely in Hungary; Maribor in Slovenia; Paris in France; London in the United Kingdom; Zurich in Switzerland; Gothenburg in Sweden; Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto in Canada; and Houston, San José, Chicago and New York in the United States.

Artistic Profile

With more than three decades of professional experience, Hooman Khalatbari has developed a multifaceted artistic career encompassing orchestral conducting, opera, vocal and choral music, piano, and Persian music.

His extensive experience in opera and vocal repertoire, together with his work in symphonic and choral music, his long-standing collaboration with singers and instrumentalists, and the conception and conducting of large-scale musical projects, form the core of his professional work.

His artistic path reflects a synthesis of Iran’s musical heritage, higher musical education in Europe, and more than three decades of professional activity in Austria and Central Europe.

He is fluent in German, English and Persian (Farsi).