As a concert pianist, Layla performs regularly in France and Switzerland, as well as in many places further afield. She has recently appeared in recitals at the Collège des Bernadins in Paris, Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, Aga Kahn Museum in Toronto, Roodaki Hall in Tehran, Hafez Hall in Shiraz, and at major festivals such as the Athénéennes in Geneva, the Schubertiade in Sion and the Alba Music Festival in Italy. Her concerts have been broadcast on Radio France, RFI, Radio Suisse Romande, NPO Radio Netherlands and CBC Radio Canada,WDR and Deutschlandfunk.
Along with her solo projects, Layla has had the privilege to work with many prominent musicians such as William Blank, Helmut Deutsch, Jean-Claude Pennetier and Philippe Albera and has performed with Jean-Marc Luisada, Eliane Reyes, Christophe Beau, Brigitte Balleys and Trio Chemirani. She has also worked closely with composers such as Tristan Murail, Luis Naon, Nicolas Bolens and Michael Jarrell.
As the pianist in the contemporary music ensemble “Matka” which is based in Geneva, she is the driving force behind several intercultural musical projects, bringing together Iranian, French, Swiss and American composers for global conferences, residencies and concerts. Layla was a member of the jury for the tenth edition of the National Festival of Music for Young People in Tehran. She is a founder and the Artistic Director of the Barbad Piano Prize in Shiraz. As well as her interest in promoting her own cultural heritage, she has played for the United Nations in Geneva for a special event to raise awareness of violence against women alongside ten African ambassadors.
Layla is currently preparing a four-part CD series on the label Paraty Records/Hamonia Mundi for her project, 100 years of Iranian Piano Music, to be distributed by Harmonia Mundi. These are: The Fathers of Iranian Music for Piano; Iranian Composers from the 1950s; Shahrzâd by Alireza Mashâyekhi; and The New Generation of Iranian Composers. The first CD of this quartet, Iranian Composers from 1950, was released in January 2017.
Layla commenced her piano studies in Tehran with Mostafa Kamal Poortorab, Raphael Minaskanian and Delbar Hakimova before moving to Paris in 2000 to study at the École Normale de Musique de Paris “Alfred Cortot” with Jean Micault and Devi Erlih with a scholarship. She also studied with Jacqueline Bourgès-Maunoury and Christophe Bukudjian at the Conservatoire National de Saint-Maur des Fossés, where she obtained a diploma of Music Studies with high distinction. She then moved to Lausanne where she currently lives, obtaining two Master’s degrees in Interpretation and Collaborative Piano from the Haute École de Musique with Christian Favre and Marc Pantillon.
She is a Laureate of the Engelberts Foundation for Art and Culture in Switzerland and the Albert Roussel Foundation in France.
Her recently released Album „Sheherezade by Alireza Mashayekhi“ was recorded together with Keyvan and Djamshid Chemirani. This disc is Layla’s second volume of her exploration of 100 years of Iranian piano music on Paraty Records/Harmonia Mundi
