Nima Pournaghshband

Iranian countertenor and composer Nima Pournaghshband is rapidly growing as a versatile young voice on the Dutch-German scene. A finalist in the televised opera competition ARIA 2024 and double prize-winner (Jury & Audience) at the 21st Music Awards Maastricht 2023 – where the jury praised his “magnetic stage presence and the seamless unity of breath and body” – he combines a glowing timbre with keen dramatic instincts.
Nima holds a Bachelor’s degree in Classical Singing and Choir Conducting from Conservatorium Maastricht (Yvonne Schiffelers / Hans Leenders) and is currently completing a Master’s in Classical Singing - Opera at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln with esteemed countertenor Kai Wessel. Born in Tehran, he first trained as an architect before moving to the Netherlands in 2019, after almost a decade of following private music lessons and international workshops, and masterclasses for voice, piano, cello, music theory and harmony, counterpoint, and composition.
As a composer, he fuses Western and Persian idioms; works include the P. Verlaine setting Soleils Couchants for six female voices and the oratorio Khane Chaharom (The Fourth Labor), while a new G. Beljon triptych featuring his Persian improvisation received its final part in June 2025.