Born and raised in Iran, Roya Bahrami moved to the US in 1977 and 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 22 years 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.

Ms. Bahrami 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, 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, Roya 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 Ms. Bahrami composed santur pieces for the celebrated flamenco dancer, Carmela Greco, and accompanied Ms. Greco on her 2004-2005 U.S. tour. Ms. Bahrami regularly offers lecture-recitals on: “Classical Music of Persia,” “Music and Spirituality,” “Understanding Multi-Cultural Identity through Artistic Expression,” and “Music of Zaryab, Traces of Ancient Persian Melodies in Andalusia.”

The album ‘Roya’, released in August 2007, represents her second album with all her original compositions including her continued work in Persian-flamenco fusion and one in which she sings and plays all the instruments.

Ms. Bahrami has founded the ‘Roya Ensemble’ in order to realize the album ‘Roya’ on stage, featuring Washington D.C.’s top talents in flamenco and jazz, Richard Marlow on flamenco guitar, Harry Appelman on keyboards, and Jon Seligman on percussion. The Roya Ensemble made its debut concert at University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on August 27, 2007.

Ms. Bahrami holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland.