THE BAND'S VISIT Orchestrator Jamshied Sharifi Dies at 64

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that Jamshied Sharifi, who won a Tony Award in 2018 for orchestrating The Band's Visit on Broadway, has died at age 64 after a battle with cancer. 

Sharifi was an American Tony Award-winning composer, conductor, musician and record producer. From 1985–1992, Sharifi led the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, and under his leadership, the group recorded two CDs, performed twenty of his compositions, and won the Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival in 1991.

Sharifi also worked on film soundtracks, working together with Michael Gibbs to score three feature films and fifteen one-hour television shows. Sharifi also went on to compose the soundtracks to many major studio and independent films including Muppets From Space, Down To Earth, Nickelodeon film Harriet the Spy and the Paramount/Nickelodeon film Clockstoppers, and contributed to the scores of The Thomas Crown Affair, and The Rugrats Movie.

In addition to creating his own albums and scoring films, Sharifi has arranged and produced albums for many artists, including Tibetan vocalist Yungchen Lhamo, and Persian vocalist Mamak Khadem. He has also recorded four albums with world fusion band Mo Boma. His first solo album, A Prayer for the Soul of Layla, received critical acclaim including Best Contemporary World Music Album at the 1st Annual New Age Voice Music Awards. 

For Dream Theater's album Octavarium, he arranged and conducted for various orchestra instruments, including strings and horns. On April 1, 2006, he conducted the orchestra for the Dream Theater 20th Anniversary World Tour performance at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. This concert was released on the Dream Theater CD/DVD Score.