Afshin Khaef

Afshin Khaef is a Stockholm-based conductor, composer, and researcher whose work brings together 20th-century symphonic repertoire, contemporary composition, and cross-cultural musical dialogue. He holds a PhD in Musical Composition from the University of Sussex and a second doctoral degree in orchestral conducting at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, focusing on 20th-century symphonic music.

Since 2001, Khaef has collaborated with orchestras, choirs, brass ensembles, and youth ensembles across Europe. His passion for complex orchestral music and his polystylistic experimental approach in composition have led him to write music in various styles and for different setups. Some of his latest works, the oratorio Persian Epilouge November 2017 and SYMPHONIC ODYSSEY February 2020 were performed in Berdwaldhallen, Stockholm. In 2024, he conducted the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra at Berwaldhallen in Bells of Victory. The programme brought together Boris Lyatoshinsky’s Symphony No. 3, Peace Will Defeat War, and Khaef’s own choral-symphonic work Legend of Kayumars in a musical manifestation of solidarity with Ukraine.