Described as “stark” by WNPR and “darkly lyrical” by the New York Times, a winner of the Second International Hildegard commission award, a 2019 recipient of Opera America’s Discovery Grant, and a finalist for Beth Morrison Projects Next Generation competition, Niloufar Nourbakhsh’s music has been commissioned and performed by Nashville Symphony Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, Library of Congress, Shriver Hall Series, Cheswatyr Foundation, I-Park Foundation, National Sawdust, Center for Contemporary Opera, Women Composers Festival of Hartford, Forward Music Project, PUBLIQuartet, Ensemble Connect, Akropolis Reed Quintet, and Calidore Quartet at numerous festivals and venues including Carnegie Hall, and Washington Kennedy Center, Mostly Mozart Festival, Seal Bay Festival of American Chamber Music, and many more.
A founding member and co-director of Iranian Female Composers Association, Niloufar is a strong advocate for music education and equal opportunities. In 2014, she worked as the site coordinator of Brooklyn Middle School Jazz Academy sponsored by Jazz at Lincoln Center. She is currently an adjunct faculty at Molloy College and co-director of Peabody Conservatory Laptop Orchestra. She also regularly performs with her Ensemble Decipher.
Niloufar is a music graduate and a Global Citizen Scholarship recipient of Goucher College as well as a Mahoney and Caplan Scholar from University of Oxford. Among her teachers are Lisa Weiss, Laura Kaminsky, Matthew Barnson, Margaret Schedel, Daniel Weymouth, Daria Semegen, and Sheila Silver. She holds a doctorate degree from Stony Brook University.