Professional Background

Dr. Amir Zaheri is a composer, performer, educator, and liturgical artist whose work draws on centuries-old musical practices while engaging directly with contemporary artistic and cultural life. He is Associate Professor and Head of Music Composition at The University of Alabama, where he also serves as University Organist, Carillonneur of the Historic Denny Chimes, and Artistic Director of the Contemporary Music Ensemble.

Zaheri’s music encompasses choral and instrumental works, fixed and spatialized media, interdisciplinary collaborations, liturgical music, experimental installations, and popular forms. His work has been performed internationally in concert halls, sacred spaces, and film and performance venues, and has been presented at festivals and institutions across the United States and abroad. Rather than privileging a single genre or platform, his compositional practice moves fluidly between contexts, guided by questions of structure, presence, and meaning.

As a performer, Zaheri maintains an active career as an organist and soloist with orchestras and choral ensembles. His performances, particularly of his own works, emphasize creative presence and attentive listening. Grounded in the organ’s long improvisatory tradition, his performance practice embraces spontaneity in both liturgical and concert settings, approaching interpretation as an embodied and relational act.

Collaboration is central to Zaheri’s artistic life. He frequently works with choreographer and screendancemaker Rebecca Salzer, with whom he has developed a sustained body of interdisciplinary work addressing themes of social justice, displacement, and human vulnerability. Their collaborations have been presented and recognized by numerous international film, dance, and art festivals in Europe and North America.

Zaheri’s creative and pedagogical work is deeply shaped by his expertise in counterpoint, which he approaches not as a historical artifact, but as a living architecture of musical thought. In both teaching and composition, he treats contrapuntal principles, particularly motivic development, as enduring frameworks that clarify structure, deepen gesture, and foster coherence across styles and media. For Zaheri, counterpoint is not simply the coordination of independent lines, but a relational way of thinking about music, one that balances intuition and intention, motion and memory, independence and responsibility.

At The University of Alabama, Zaheri directs a dynamic studio of undergraduate and graduate composers and teaches a broad curriculum that includes applied composition, composition seminar, contemporary ensemble, multidisciplinary composition, counterpoint, orchestration, and advanced analytical studies. He has also served in administrative roles within the School of Music, including Associate Director, Director of Academic Affairs, and Director of Student Affairs and Student Wellness, where his work has focused on cultivating environments of rigor, care, and individual development.

Beyond the university, Zaheri serves as Director of Music and Worship Arts & Organist at the historic First United Methodist Church of Tuscaloosa. There, he oversees the musical and liturgical life of the congregation, shaping worship through careful planning, collaboration, and sustained artistic leadership. His sacred and academic work are not separate endeavors, but arise from a shared commitment to meaning-making through sound, community, and attentive practice.

In 2023, Zaheri was inducted into Western Kentucky University’s Hall of Distinguished Alumni, the institution’s highest alumni honor. Fewer than 125 alumni have received this recognition from a living alumni body of nearly 200,000, representing well under one tenth of one percent of the university’s graduates. The award reflects both the scope of his work and his ongoing commitment to artistic integrity, teaching, and service.