Dorothea Schlegel Artist-in-Residence

November–December 2026

Reinterpreting the Radīf

During her residency at EXC 2020, the virtuoso and composer Elshan Ghasimi will continue her long-term project Reinterpreting the Radīf, focusing on the Avaz-e Dashti. The radīf, the orally transmitted repertoire of classical Persian music, exists only by being passed on from one generation to the next, making it a temporal community in the most literal sense. As the first woman to undertake a systematic reinterpretation of this tradition, Ghasimi is going to explore three questions: how a repertoire fixed in notation over the past century can be reopened to improvisation, what role within it is played by silence, and what it means to carry it forward in the diaspora

Born in Isfahan in 1981 and based in Germany since 2016, Elshan Ghasimi is one of the leading performers of the Persian long-necked lutes tar, setar and robab, and of the frame drum dayereh. At 17, she became the youngest member of Iran’s National Orchestra. Today she performs as a soloist and with ensembles such as Concerto Köln. Her work connects the Persian musical heritage with contemporary classical music, jazz, experimental and early music.

Her residency will include a public concert on November 19 at Freie Universität Berlin.