Arin Shahjahanian is a composer, pianist, and educator whose music emerges at the junction of literature, culture, and poetics. His compositional practice superimposes intricate pitch structures onto complex layers of timbre, rhythm, and noise, all the while featuring recurring inquiries into form, groove, and canon. Throughout these shifting constellations of sounds, he makes space to confront cultural and historical issues relating to his Armenian identity through his engagement with the music, dance, and poetry of his people.

Los Angeles-born and bred, Arin came to composition on heels of intensive training as a pianist, first at The Colburn School with Heewon Kwon then continuing through his undergraduate studies. As a composer, his music has been performed by many of the world’s leading new music ensembles, including Dal Niente (Chicago), International Contemporary Ensemble (New York), Ensemble MusikFabrik (Cologne), Meitar Ensemble (Tel Aviv), loadbang (Boston), Assonance Ensemble (Yerevan), and Old Bay New Music (Baltimore), among others. As a pianist, he has performed extensively as a recitalist, soloist with orchestras, and collaborative and orchestral musician.

Arin is currently a lecturer in theory and composition at California State University Long Beach, where he also earned a BM double majoring in composition with Alan Shockley and piano with Valentina Gottlieb. He recently completed an MM in composition at the Peabody Institute under Oscar Bettison and also served as a graduate teaching assistant in the theory department under Paula Maust. His continued development as a pianist during his graduate studies led him to premiere many new works by his colleagues and collaborate with instrumental students as a conservatory accompanist; he also served as an orchestral keyboardist, notably with the Peabody Symphony under Marin Alsop. He’ll return to Peabody to begin a DMA with Du Yun in the fall of 2024. Additional lesson instructors have included Franck Bedrossian, Chaya Czernowin, Georg Friedrich Haas, Clara Iannotta, and Lei Liang. Arin hopes to continue professional work as a composer, performer, and educator, as well developing advocacy in the artistic and cultural developments of Armenians in the homeland and the diaspora. Outside of music, his interests are piqued by cats, cooking, books, and pens.