Roya has released her third CD entitled I Am I Am Not on November 5, 2010. In this album she features the entire ensemble for an all acoustic recording with the help of Grammy award winning team of sound engineers. "Seamless blend of Persian, flamenco, Latin, and jazz reflecting the incredible closeness of beings."

Roya has performed at numerous educational and cultural institutions in Washington D.C. area, including the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian Institution's Freer and Sackler Galleries, the Library of Congress, the Arts Club of Washington, Mary Washington University, American University, George Washington University, and the University of Maryland. She has also performed at similar venues in New York, West Virginia, Oregon, and the state of Washington. In 1999, she appeared on Spain’s national television Program “Imaginaria” broadcast live from Granada, Spain, and later that year released her first CD entitled Probe, in which she explored the melding of Persian melodies with other musical traditions. In 2004 Roya composed santur pieces for the celebrated flamenco dancer, Carmela Greco, and accompanied Ms. Greco on her 2004-2005 U.S. tour.

Her second album Roya, released in August 2007 with all her original compositions including her continued work in Persian-flamenco fusion and one in which she sings and plays all the instruments in an electro-acoustic arrangement. Since then, she has founded the Roya Ensemble in order to realize the album ‘Roya’ in live settings as well as developing her new compositions and arrangements creating a seamless blend of Persian, flamenco, Latin, and jazz, best realized in her third album I Am I Am Not released on November 5, 2010. The Roya Ensemble is comprised of a roster of talented musicians in the greater Washington D.C. : Ricardo Marlow on flamenco guitar, Denis Malloy on clarinet and bass clarinet, and tenor sax, Steve Bloom and Jon Seligman on world percussion instruments. The Roya Ensemble has been invited to perform at various events including University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center in August 2007, President Obama's Inauguration celebratory concert, Smithsonian Institution in January 2009 , the Gettysburg World Heritage Festival in September 2009, sponsored by the Interfaith Center for Peace and Justice, Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival, Silver Spring, MD in April 2010, and Washington Folk Festival, Washington, D.C. in June 2010.

"Roya has achieved a level of artistry that few can claim. The message of her music is uniquely profound, far reaching and inspiring in the extreme. All who hear her will be changed for the better by the experience." Nancy Jo Snider, Director, Music Program, American University, Washington, D.C.

Roya also continues to appear in solo concerts and conferences around the world. She regularly offers lecture-recitals on: “Classical Music of Persia,” “Music and Spirituality,” “Understanding Multi-Cultural Identity through Artistic Expression,” and “Traces of Ancient Persian Melodies in Andalusia.” To highlight a few, in February 2008 she presented her 'Music and Spirituality' program at the Rumi Forum in Washington D.C., in March 2008 she appeared in concert at the Museum of Flamenco Dance in Seville, Spain in conjunction with her program on 'Traces of Ancient Persian Melodies in Andalusia', in October 2008 she presented 'Understanding Multi-Cultural Identity through Artistic Expression" at the American University Katzen Art Center, May 27-31, 2009 she was invited to the World Cimbalom Congress, Querétaro, Mexico, presenting "Classical Music of Persia" along with concerts and conferences. A full list of her recent performances as well as radio and press interviews are available on the Music page. A full list of reviews is available on the Reviews page.

Roya Bahrami was born and raised in Iran and moved to the US in 1977. She worked as a telecommunications engineer for 20 years before dedicating herself full-time starting in July of 2004 to what had been a part-time career as a musician. With over 2 decades of experience performing on her Persian santur, she has studied the Persian Classical repertoire (radif) with the leading masters of the art form on santur, setar and tar with Maestros Lotfi, Alizadeh, and Talai. She has studied santur techniques with Shahariar Saleh, Esmail Tehrani and Kazem Davoodian; daf with Esfandiar Shah-Mir; piano and vocal training with Golnoush Khaleghi; flamenco baile (dance) with Lourdes Elias, Jaime Coronado, cante (chant) with Marija Temo, Jesus Montoya, and palos (harmonies and rhythms) with Richard 'Ricardo' Marlow.

Roya holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.