Join us for an enchanting evening of music as Narges Jajarmi and Martin Shamoonpour come together to perform on Saturday, February 7, 2026, at Central Stage.
About the Artists
Narges Jajarmi is an Iranian-born composer, pianist, and accordionist based in the Bay Area. Her musical journey began at the age of three and later led her to study piano at the Tehran Music Conservatory. After immigrating to the United States, she continued shaping her artistic voice through performance, composition, and self-taught accordion playing.
Her debut solo piano album, I Wear You and Walk to the Airport (2025), reflects a deeply personal narrative of exile, memory, and rebirth. Narges has performed on notable stages across the United States and collaborated with international artists in projects centered on women’s voices, contemporary storytelling, and cross-cultural expression. She also teaches young children with great passion and devotion, nurturing their early musical growth.
Martin Shamoonpour is an autodidactic multi-instrumentalist, composer, actor, and visual artist from Tehran. As a teenager averse to school teachers, he began teaching himself daf, tombak, flute, and Iranian folk woodwind instruments, eventually performing in galleries and theaters throughout Iran. To date, Shamoonpour has composed and performed music for close to thirty theater productions in The City Theater of Tehran and has written, directed, and performed his own one-man show, Qatinu the Hero, at many of Iran’s most prominent artistic theaters. Always looking to explore new avenues of creativity, Shamoonpour has released three experimental music albums, including 8-Bit (2014), which features 8-bit versions of Iranian folk music, and Tehransaranieh, (2010, Hermes Records) which combines the “concrète” sounds of city life with ambient music and traditional instruments. He has produced various audio art installations for the Parkingallery, Fravahrgallery, Tehran House Of Artists, and Laleh Art Gallery in Iran. In 2015, Shamoonpour left Iran and now regularly tours the United States with Journey West, an eight-person music ensemble that performs traditional Eastern music at theaters and universities from New York City to Washington State.
Shamoonpour began acting in Tehran’s active theater scene in his twenties, appearing in over twenty theater productions and rubbing elbows with some of Iran’s most notable performers. His talent and humor led him to support actor roles in four feature-length films, including the award-winning Melbourne (2014) and Bending the Rules (2013). In 2010, Shamoonpour relocated to Germany, where he acted in Berlin’s Charivari Circus. In December 2018, after moving to the United States, Shamoonpour stayed two months at New York’s St. Ann's Warehouse, in the Off-Broadway play “The Jungle,” with acclaimed director Stephen Daldry. Martin Shamoonpour holds a degree in Graphic Design from Tehran’s University of Science and Culture and creates mixed-media artworks that reflect his experience as a musician with ties to his old home, and his new. He also creates stop-motion animations, CD artwork, and acrylic paintings as an artist-for-hire, and as gifts for friends and family.
