Night Three of the 27th Annual MATA Festival is centered around the world premiere of Reza Vali’s String Quartet No. 6, Salmak, a tribute to the great 13th century Persian music theorist and musician Safialdin Ormavi. Vali says of the work, “I have used some of Ormavi’s 13th century medieval modes and have interpolated these modes with some of the modes of the modern Persian modal system, the Dastgâh system.” The evening also includes four pieces by 2025 MATA Festival Early-Career Composers, each exploring varying heightened emotional states – surviving survival instincts; pain and lamentation; catharsis after the pandemic; and the struggle to release unresolved emotions – performed by FLUX Quartet and the MATA Mavens.

From June 11-14, 2025, MATA presents its 27th annual festival, featuring four concerts across four nights exploring the concept of INTERGALACTIC INFINITY: Music Between Spaces. Founded in 1996 by Philip Glass, Eleonor Sandresky, and Lisa Bielawa, MATA serves as an incubator for adventurous emerging artists experimenting with composition, multi-media, performance art, and every imaginable sound in between. Its annual MATA Festival has become one of the most sought-after opportunities for young and emerging composers.

Curated by Executive Director Pauline Kim Harris, the 2025 Festival features works by 18 composers in the early stages of their professional careers, selected by Harris and a panel of eight esteemed composers and artists – Titilayo Ayangade, Tom Chiu, Felix Fan, John Glover, Conrad Harris, Max Mandel, Paula Matthusen, and Kal Sugatski – from a free, global call resulting in over 300 submissions.