This post was updated Oct. 27 at 9:45 p.m.

UCLA’s commitment to celebrating and preserving Iranian music continues to expand.

On Sunday, the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music held a celebratory opening for the Gramian-Emrani Center for Iranian Music. The formation of the Center was made possible through a $5 million pledge by alumnus Haleh Emrani in memory of her husband, Ahmad Gramian. UCLA previously had an Iranian Music Program, but School of Music Dean Eileen Strempel said the establishment of the Center is important for increasing connections between UCLA and Los Angeles’ Iranian community.

“To be able to be the home of the research and study and performance of the music of Iran, especially because it’s one of the world’s oldest and richest traditions, it’s a real honor for us,” Strempel said.

Strempel said the Iranian Music Program initially began after a gift from the Farhang Foundation in 2018. She said the foundation emphasizes the importance of increasing engagement with Iranian art and culture while taking a firm stance to be nonreligious and nonpolitical. The Iranian community in the LA region is the largest expatriate community of Iranians outside of Iran and includes Jewish Iranians, Christian Iranians and Muslim Iranians, Strempel added.

UCLA’s position as the number one public research university in the nation means there can be collaboration and partnership with the Farhang Foundation, Strempel said. UCLA can provide a home for the continued study of Iranian music, and the formation of the Gramian-Emrani Center for Iranian Music permanently links Emrani and Gramian to the mission of preserving Iranian music and culture with the world, Strempel added.

“I hope, as we move forward together, that the Center really proves to be home for the next generation of artists and scholars and continues to also be a home for the Iranian community and those that love Iranian music and culture,” Strempel said.

[Related: Sumeet Anand Pandey brings Dhrupad music, Indian traditions to UCLA]

Richard Danielpour is a distinguished professor and professional composer who will be the director for the Center. Danielpour said the Center will combine the research elements of the ethnomusicology department and the performance elements of the music department. As a musician himself, he said the study of non-Western music is crucial to creating a global awareness of music. But to bring Iranian music to a larger audience, he said performances are essential in order to give audiences the chance to appreciate the powerful emotional aspects of the music.

“Research study is alone not sufficient to the task to bring an awareness of any rich culture of non-Western music, particularly Persian music, which can only be understood truly in the experience of its performance,” Danielpour said. “And that goes for not only the ancient Persian music to which many of us have a curatorial responsibility to maintain, but also the creation of new works, which are inspired by the tradition of Persian music.”

Shahab Paranj is a postdoctoral fellow in music and lecturer in the music and ethnomusicology departments at UCLA, as well as a composer and conductor, who will be working with Danielpour to lead the Center in artistic direction. Paranj said the Iranian Music minor was first offered by the ethnomusicology department several years ago, but it was somewhat limited in its scope for hosting events or sharing knowledge. By comparison, the new Center will allow the department to increase the concerts, events and lectures held about Iranian music, he said.

Paranj said he received his PhD in music composition at UCLA but grew up learning, studying and performing Iranian music. UCLA has the opportunity to advocate for the inclusion and promotion of different cultures, and the Center specifically has the potential to educate multiple generations of Iranian Americans who might be disconnected from their culture, he added.

“With this Center, we wanted to provide the place that these people can come and get connected to their culture through the music,” Paranj said.

[Related: Awaken A Cappella brings history, diverse voices to UCLA’s a cappella scene]

Another mission of the Center is to provide education to non-Iranians about Iranian music and culture, Paranj said. It is especially important amid ongoing tension between Iran and other countries in the Middle East that non-Iranians be able to better understand Iranian art, he said. One idea Paranj said is being considered for the Center’s educational component for Iranian and non-Iranian audiences is introducing music appreciation classes for both UCLA students and members of the broader LA community. Classes could provide a more in-depth background about Iranian music and go beyond the exposure provided by performances and events hosted by the Center, he added.

For some classical Iranian pieces, the non-metric music is so complex that it cannot be written down or rhythmically notated and is instead passed along through oral tradition, Paranj said. By learning about other musical traditions, Paranj said UCLA musicians and aspiring composers will be able to acquire other techniques for creating music that they can bring to their own work. He said the Center is providing the opportunity for students and the local community to engage with professional artists from not just Iran, but also Armenia and India.

Rather than focus on the glorification of Iran or inaccurate depictions of Iranian classical music, Paranj said the Center will be rooted in historical elements. An important distinction between Western classical music and Iranian music is the differences in their structure of developing melody, as well as their storytelling approaches, Paranj said. Likewise, the history of some of the music being referenced means Iranian music needs to be met with an open-minded perspective, he added.

“We cannot apply our understanding of Western classical music to Iranian music,” Paranj said. “We have to educate ourselves. We have to prepare our ear to listen and give a different type of value to understand this music.”