Farhang Foundation has announced that it has canceled its previously planned 16th annual Nowruz celebration at UCLA’s Dickson Court in response to the ongoing loss of innocent lives in Iran, and will instead present a “Light Always Prevails.”

The Nowruz concert will showcase the talents of Maestra Parissa and Golda Zahra on the Royce Hall stage on March 8, 2026.

Parissa is widely regarded as an icon of Iranian classical music. Her career in Iran was halted following the 1979 revolution, and her last appearance on Farhang Foundation’s Nowruz stage was in 2019. The concert will mark a rare public performance. Meanwhile, Zahra will make her Persian-language stage debut.

Both artists will perform with the Iranshahr Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Shahab Paranj. The program will feature works composed exclusively by Iranian composers. The concert falls on International Women’s Day, a date carrying particular resonance as women have been forbidden from singing publicly in Iran since 1979.

The concert is presented in collaboration with the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and the Gramian–Emrani Center for Iranian Music at UCLA, home to Farhang Foundation’s Iranian Music Degree Program, the first and only dedicated academic degree in Iranian music outside of Iran.