Biography

Keyan Keyan Emami is a JUNO-nominated composer, scholar, and educator renowned for his compelling contemporary extended tonal language and innovative sonic textures. Deeply inspired by Persian literature, history, and diverse stylistic idioms, his compositions for orchestra, voice, and piano have been performed by leading international ensembles at prestigious venues, including Roy Thomson Hall, the Four Seasons Centre, and the Aga Khan Museum.

As a prominent cultural leader and champion of multidisciplinary dialogue, Emami is the co-founder and Artistic Director of the ICOT Collective, a non-profit organization that has premiered over 60 new works since 2011. Complementing his concert music practice, he also heads Key Music Productions, a professional collective dedicated to crafting captivating, narrative-driven original scores for independent films, media, and cinematic installations. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book Music on the Borderland: Remembering and Chronicling the 1979 Revolution’s Shadow on Iranian Music. His creative and scholarly contributions have been recognized with numerous grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council. He is an Associate Composer at the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers.

Emami completed his Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in composition at the University of Toronto. His multi-dimensional creative path also encompasses a background in engineering and a Master of Music degree earned with distinction, where he was awarded the Best Master’s Thesis Prize for his Symphony in Three Movements. His primary composition mentors include Christos Hatzis, Norbert Palej, Alexander Rapoport, Sharif Lotfi, Mehran Rouhani, and Ahmad Pejman.

Following academic appointments at the University of Toronto and the Tehran University of Art, Emami currently serves as an RCM Certified Specialist and Adjudicator at The Royal Conservatory of Music College of Examiners. As the founder of Key Music, he provides elite mentorship in piano, composition, and music theory from his professional studio in Newmarket, Ontario, cultivating the next generation of musical talent.