Electroacoustic Music

Where Traces Remain

Where Traces Remain explores what sound carries with it—what lingers, transforms, and resurfaces. The audio playback is built from layered and processed recordings of solo violin, recorded by violinist Roan Ma, and the tar, an Iranian plucked string instrument, recorded by Iranian tar player Arman Nikaeen, based in Iran.
In late Spring 2026, as internet access began to return to Iran after months of disconnection, Arman reached out to me and asked if there was a way we could collaborate. I asked him to record a collection of sounds and extended techniques on the tar for another project. As I listened to his recordings while working on Where Traces Remain, I began to hear connections between the sound worlds of the tar and violin. I became interested in bringing these sounds into the composition and exploring how the two instruments could meet and transform one another. After a period when distance and disconnection from Iran had felt especially profound, these recordings became more than musical material; they became a connection to a place that had felt increasingly distant.
The live violin moves through a spectrum of noise, fragmented musical gestures, melodic lines, and rhythmic passages, shaped by these recorded sounds and elements of Iranian music. Throughout the work, sounds emerge, disappear, transform, and leave traces that move between the live violin and the audio playback.
Where Traces Remain was commissioned by Music Toronto for violinist Roan Ma.

The work will receive its premiere on November 24, 2026, at the Jane Mallett Theatre in Toronto.

Tuesday, November 24, 2026 at 6:30 p.m (pre-concert)
Jane Mallett Theatre
27 Front Street East
Toronto, ON M5E 1B4

Stay tuned for more information.

Tickets: Music Toronto – 2026–27 Concerts

Inspired by Omid Fallahazad’s story Sabzeh, this immersive installation brings together music, dance, fiber arts, and visuals rooted in Persian carpets and growing sprouts. Like knots woven by hand or seeds pushing through the dark, beauty and strength appear when we hold each other through all seasons of growth. Some of us are just beginning to sprout, others stretch further toward the light — yet all are vital. Even when lives are unjustly cut short, their spirit and impact endure, reminding us that we are bound together. The work honors the ten Baha’i women executed in Shiraz, Iran, forty years ago, and invites us to see our deep interconnectedness — to remember that through unity, we hold the power to rise, resist injustice, and nurture change.

Sepideh is a multimedia composition for solo piano, video, and audio playback. The title itself carries a dual meaning, symbolizing both the dawn and an Iranian woman's name.

The creative process behind this work holds a special place in my heart. For me, it brought together two communities I belong to—mothers and children, and artists—that had never come together in a creative project before. I was grateful to collaborate remotely with Spanish vocalist Sandra Sangiao and Toronto-based pianist Yun Lee Young, and to work with Joshua Weinfeld of Continuous Motion Production, who recorded and edited the visuals.

The colorful ribbons woven through the piece carry deep symbolic meaning: in many cultures, they appear in women’s traditional costumes as expressions of resilience, identity, and the enduring strength of women across generations.
My hope is that this composition invites the audience to reflect on our shared resilience and the quiet power of human connection.

Goodnight Moon is a composition for voice, cello, piano and audio playback commissioned by a Montreal based trio, Noise Partout. Stay tuned for premier information!

Blue Girl (2020) is a three-channel video by video, net and performance artist, Rah. The film is a homage to women who self immolate as a form of protest against domestic violence. I had the privilege to be part of this project and collaborate as the composer and sound artist.
The music is performed  and recorded by Tahirih Vejdani (soprano), Stacy Dunlap (mezzo soprano), Dobrochna Zubek (cello), Nava Keyhanirad and Ferial Tahmasbi (narration).

Search for Simurgh is a composition for an interdisciplinary interactive performance installation Commissioned by Kate Digby and Erika Batdorf. This interdisciplinary collaborative project was developed under the supervision of Kate Digby and Erika Batdorf in summer 2018 at York University and Toronto Art Media Centre.

Link to the Search for Simurgh project: https://www.simurghproject.org/

Visiting Grandpa is a multi-channel soundscape based on my memories of my grandfather. It was written when I learned that the Iranian revolutionary guard demolished the historic cemetery of Baha'is in Shiraz (Iran), where my grandfather's remain, as well as many other Baha'is', were buried.
I'd like to thank my husband, Kamran Fallah, for the translation of the original text into English; Nika Khanjani, for her powerful narration of the story; and Roya Sepehri, for creating a serene atmosphere by chanting prayers beautifully in Persian.

Link to Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/parisabet/visiting-grandpa-2015-stereo-version