Residencia: Mark Takeshi McGregor and Farshid Samandari 16-20/02/2026

Canadian flutist Mark Takeshi McGregor and Iranian-Canadian composer Farshid Samandari will spend a week at CMMAS, developing and rehearsing a new work for bass flute and electronics, culminating in a public premiere on Friday, February 20, 2026.

Mark Takeshi McGregor

Described as a “mind-blowing” musician of “huge physical energy” (Times Colonist), flutist Mark Takeshi McGregor is one of Canada’s leading interpreters of classical, contemporary, and experimental music. As both a soloist and collaborative musician, Mark has performed extensively across five continents, with recent engagements including performances in Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Mexico, Brazil, Western and Central Europe, and across Canada. A prolific recording artist, Mark co-founded the award-winning Redshift Records label in 2007 and in 2020 was the winner of the Western Canadian Music Award “Classical Artist of the Year”. In 2021 he was named artistic director of the Queer Arts Festival + SUM gallery in Vancouver, Canada.

Farshid Samandari

Farshid Samandari was born in Iran in 1971 into a Bahà’i family. This meant that he was not allowed to pursue academic studies in a university, was not allowed to leave the country as other citizens, and in general was deprived of basic human rights. He witnessed the imprisonment, tribulation, and martyrdom of many friends and scholars. It took him about nine years to legally obtain a passport to leave his homeland. Notwithstanding these conditions he pursued his music studies, eventually teaching, and founding a choir. In April 2001 he arrived in Canada where he continued his studies in composition and electroacoustics at the University of BC. His music reflects his interest in contemporary classical vocabulary, spectral analysis, and extended techniques. In addition his profound faith in unity in diversity has stirred him to utilize elements from a variety of non-western musical traditions, and integrate different cultural music and vocabularies in his compositions.