Carnegie Mellon University

School of Music

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CFA Arch

May 01, 2009

PROFESSOR CYRUS FOROUGH RECEIVES INTERNATIONAL AWARDPROFESSOR CYRUS FOROUGH RECEIVES INTERNATIONAL AWARD

Carnegie Mellon Professor of Violin Honored by World Academy of Arts, Literature and Media PITTSBURGH — Cyrus Forough, professor of violin in Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Music, has been recognized for his contributions to classical music. The World Academy of Arts, Literature and Media (WAALM) recently honored Forough with a 2008 Persian Golden Lioness Award. The awards are given to a few elite individuals each year who are nominated, studied and selected by an international panel representing the arts, literature and media. The Persian Golden Lioness awards are the most prestigious international Persian cultural awards. Forough received the Persian Golden Lioness Award at an Oct. 31 ceremony in London, England. “I’m very proud of my heritage as an Iranian-American and am deeply honored by my selection for this award,” Forough said. “Organizations such as WAALM greatly help to contribute to the much-deserved confidence we all should have as people with a tremendous historical and cultural background in a history spanning more than 3,000 years. These awards demonstrate how so many Iranians today are distinguishing themselves in countless professions internationally.” Noted for his “fiery intensity” and “poetic vision,” Forough is a laureate of the Tchaikovsky International Competition and a first-prize winner of the Milwaukee Symphony Violin Competition. He has toured extensively in recital and with orchestras throughout four continents. As an avid exponent of contemporary music, he has performed works by modern composers internationally. Forough has appeared at many festivals such as the Weimar Festival in East Germany, the Plovdiv Music Festival in Bulgaria, the International Schubert Festival at Indiana University, and the American Sacred Music Festival directed by composer and conductor Lukas Foss. In addition to teaching at Carnegie Mellon, Forough serves as chair of the String Division, and is professor of violin at Roosevelt University and The Music Institute of Chicago Academy for gifted students. He also has taught and performed at summer festivals worldwide at venues including the Meadowmount School of Music, the Cleveland Institute, the Indiana University String Academy in Bloomington, the Glenn Gould School of the Toronto Royal Conservatory of Music, and the Chateau de Champs in Paris, among many others. His students have secured elite honors with many capturing awards in national and international competitions. Carnegie Mellon’s School of Music educates outstanding, intellectually gifted musicians through excellence in performance, creativity, scholarship and pedagogy. The School of Music offers undergraduate degrees in music composition and instrumental, vocal and keyboard performance. Graduate degrees are offered in composition, conducting and performance, and music education. The school also offers a variety of highly acclaimed non-degree programs, such as the Performance Residency Program, the Artist Diploma Program and the Dalcroze Eurhythmics, Piano Pedagogy, Advanced Flute Studies, Orff Schulwerk and Music Education certificate programs.