Aida Shahghasemi is a Minneapolis based musician with roots in Iran. She studied Psychology and Anthropology at University of Minnesota with a focus on the cultural aspects of Persian Classical Music and the restrictions imposed on the voices of Iranian female vocalists. She received her Masters degree from New York University in Arts Politics where she also served as an adjunct instructor teaching a course she developed on arts activism in Iran. She has worked with a number of different Art and Social Advocacy groups in New York and Minnesota as a musician, graphic designer, and developer and has served as an Assistant Program Coordinator at Hamline University’s Making Waves Social Justice Theatre Troupe. She has been a touring member of Iron and Wine and Marketa Irglova’s band while also being a recording artist on two of Glen Hansard’s albums. Her three albums are “Wind Between the Horse’s Ears,” released in 2015, “Cypress of Abarkooh,” released in 2019 and “Chashmandaaze Rooydaad,” released in August of 2022. She is a McKnight Music Fellow and serves as an adjunct faculty in the MFA program at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Aida is a mental health therapist at Hiraeth Psychotherapy and works primarily with adults and couples dealing with trauma.

Select Performances of Note

  • MacPhail Center for Music, Global Music Initiative televised performance, February 2024

  • Drexel University, One year Anniversary of Woman, Life, Freedom movement, Philadelphia, September 2023

  • Artist‑in‑residence accompanied by performance, Tofte Lake Center, MN, September 2023

  • Women of the Middle East performance, Vaak Stage, London, August 2023

  • Art2Action presentation of "Drone," Veterans Arts Triennial & Summit, Chicago, January 2023

  • Art2Action artist‑in‑residence for creation of "Drone," Contemporary Art Center of New Orleans, Dec 2022

  • “Impossible Stages” collaborative performance between artists of the Middle East, December 2022

  • Solidarity performance with Women of Iran for Iran Culture Week, St. Paul, September 2022

  • Album presentation performance hosted by Diaspora Arts Connection, San Francisco, August 2022

  • Album release performance, Cedar Cultural Center, July 2022

  • San Diego Museum of Art, Persian Cultural Center of San Diego, October 2021.

  • Politically Engaged Art Amidst Multiple Pandemics, webinar presented by Imagining Transnational Solidarity Research Circle, August 2020

  • St. Olaf University, Minnesota, “Political Performances” lecture, Fall 2019

  • Plains Museum, Fargo, “The Other Four” group exhibit- Fall 2019

  • Link Music Lab, second album presentation, Toronto, May 2019

  • Diaspora Arts Connection, second album presentation, San Francisco, May 2019

  • Diaspora Arts Connection, “Let Her Sing” program, San Francisco, September 2018

  • Tabestoon Festival, Toronto, August 2018

  • Mayo Clinic Diversity Program, Rochester, MN, March 2018

  • Carnegie Melon University, Winter Solstice Celebration, Pittsburgh, December 2017

  • MacPhail Center for Music 2017 Music Fellowship finalist performance, May 2017

  • MacPhail Center for Music 2016 Music Fellowship finalist performance, May 2016

  • National Sawdust, Persian New Year Celebration, March 18, 2016

  • Instinct Art Gallery-“Empathy” exhibit-Lullabies for Syrian Refugees, Minneapolis, December, 2015

  • La Mama Theater, “11 Reflections on September”, New York, April, 2015

  • Apollo Theater, “WOW” Women of the World Festival, New York, April, 2015

  • US and Europe tour with Marketa Irglova, October and November, 2014

  • University of South Florida, “This Bridge” series, Tampa, September, 2014

  • Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies Organization, Brooklyn, January, 2012

  • Tiny Desk Concert, NPR, Washington DC, 2011

  • US and Europe tour, Iron and Wine, 2011

  • Intermedia Arts-Women in the Veil-Minneapolis, March, 2004