“The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk.” G.W.F. Hegel (1770 – 1831) Saman Samadi plays his own compositions for solo piano which uses an innovative pitch organization. He created this microtonal system derived from the traditional Persian modes. This album consists of eleven works that are meant to be listened to as a set. These pieces were written after contemplating various philosophies of the great thinkers including: Socrates, Hobbes, Camus, Descartes, Nietzsche, Heraclitus, etc. Saman Samadi (b.1984) is a Persian avant-garde composer residing in New York City. Samadi has written an extensive amount of repertoire including large scale orchestral works, chamber music for various combinations, solo instruments, and electro-acoustic music. Samadi attended NODET (National Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents) for middle school, high school and pre-university studies in Sari, Iran. He was awarded a diploma in Mathematics from this institution. Samadi holds a B.A. in Violin Performance and a M.A. in Composition from the University of Tehran. He was ranked 2nd nationally for the mandatory graduate entrance concours. During his M.A. he studied with Alireza Mashayekhi. Samadi was offered a full scholarship as well as a full teaching assistantship for the PhD program in composition at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. During his time there he studied with Daria Semegen. Samadi has had various notable achievements over the years. His work was chosen to be performed at The New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival in June 2014. His composition “Paj” has won first prize for the 2012 Counterpoint-Italy International Composition Competition. In 2009 Samadi won an award for the 24th annual Fadjr International Music Festival. He was also the director and conductor of Concentus Orchestra from 2005-2007. The repertoire consisted of baroque and contemporary works which included some of his own compositions. Samadi is currently the composer and conductor of the Enceladus Ensemble of New York. Samadi’s music has been influenced by the “New Complexity”. He developed his own unique style which entails a new system of pitch organization that uses microtones from traditional Persian music, improvisation, complex poly-rhythms, and heterophonic texture. In addition, Samadi improvises on the piano which has had a great impact on his compositions. He is also a Baritone and uses traditional Persian techniques in his singing. Samadi is also an artist who has used graphic design, oil painting and photography as his medium. Samadi is the co-founder and director of SAMADIS’ which organizes an annual international composition competition and concert series. Samadis’ records is a contemporary classical music record label based in New York City, which has released "Microtonal Piano Solos" as its first album in January 2015.