Hossein Omoumi (born 1944) is an Iranian-born master musician of the

ney The ''ney'' ( fa, Ney/نی, ar, Al-Nāy/الناي), is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Persian music and Arabic music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. The ney has been played continually ...

(reed flute), composer, scholar, and teacher of Persian traditional music. He is the Maseeh Professor in Persian Performing Arts in the department of music within the

Claire Trevor School of the Arts The Claire Trevor School of the Arts (CTSA, Claire Trevor) is an academic unit at the University of California, Irvine, focused on the performing and visual arts. The four departments housed in the school are for art, dance, drama, and music. ...

, at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...

(UCI).

Biography

Omoumi started studying at the age of 14 the ney, the traditional reed flute of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

; and studied music under ney master Hassan Kassai. Early in his career he taught at the National Conservatory of Music in Iran. In 1972, he received a PhD in architecture from the

University of Florence The University of Florence (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The first universi ...

. In 1984, he moved to Paris where he taught at

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sor ...

. He has performed at many concerts and music festivals as a player of the ney. He is also known for original work with Persian traditional drums, particularly the

tombak The ''tombak'' (Persian: تمبک), ''tonbak'' (تنبک), or ''zarb'' (ضَرب) is an Iranian goblet drum. It is considered the principal percussion instrument of Persian music. The tombak is normally positioned diagonally across the torso w ...

and daf. In 1997, Omoumi played the ney for ''The Sweet Hereafter'' soundtrack (1997). His students have included

Alireza Ghorbani Alireza Ghorbani ( fa, علیرضا قربانی; born 4 February 1972) is an Iranian traditional vocalist. Biography He began his career by reciting the Quran. Soon he began eagerly learning traditional Iranian music. In 1984, he was fascina ...

, and Hesam Abedini.

References

University of California, Irvine faculty Iranian flautists Living people 1944 births University of Florence alumni Musicians from Isfahan {{US-academic-bio-stub