Shiva Feshareki
Composer Profile: Shiva Feshareki

As part of our #afemalecomposerday campaign marking International Women's Day, we highlight the life and work of composer Shiva Feshareki. 

Shiva Feshareki- I'm always trying to reshape and rethink what I do as an artist and to try to have a different perspective than the one I have at the moment.”

Experimental composer, turntablist, researcher and curator; Shiva Feshareki explores the physicality of sound in her work, with respect to space, light and movement. Working alongside classical instrumentalists, as well as electronic producers and visual artists, her work spans across a body of disciplines.

Combining orchestral sound with electronic, Shiva Feshareki is able to merge these two sound worlds to create a unique sonic experience; here she explains her process behind this:

“I recorded myself reversing a record at various very slow revolutions to create a melody, and I also recorded myself playing with some analogue synths. I then looped and layered small samples of the recording of my orchestral composition 'O'. There's a section in the orchestral piece where there are 4 grand pianos ascending in chromatic octaves; in this composition, I layered them in various ways to give the effect of 16 grand pianos ascending in chromatics, the result is hearing whatever you want in it. Finally, I collaged all these ideas to make the final composition.”

Take a listen to Shiva’s composition “O” for spatialised orchestra and acoustic organ here:

Shiva Feshareki's British Music Collection profile can be found online here.