Samin Baghtcheban

• Name — Samin Baghcheban • Native Name — ثمین باغچهبان • Born — 24 september 1923 • Birthplace — Tabriz, Iran • Died — 19 March 2008 • Place of death — Istanbul, Turkey • Occupation — Composer, author, translator • Spouse — Evelyn Baghtcheban • Children — 3 • Relatives — Jabbar Baghtcheban (father) • Website — http: www.baghcheban.net

Samin Baghtcheban was born in 1925 in Tabriz, Iran, and grew up in Shiraz and Tehran, where his father established the first modern kindergartens and schools for the deaf in Iran. His father, Jabbar Baghtcheban, was a leading educator and pioneer of Persian cued speech. Baghcheban started his music studies at the Tehran Conservatory of Music. In 1944 Samin Baghtcheban was awarded a scholarship to study composition in Ankara State Conservatory. He returned to Tehran in 1949 and started teaching at the Conservatory. He was married to the opera singer, Evelyn Baghtcheban, whom he met while studying in Ankara. In 1984 he moved to Turkey with his family where he continued his activities and composed several new pieces, some of which were performed by Manouchehr Sahbai in Switzerland. He died on 19 March 2008 in Istanbul.

Between 1948 and 1979, in addition to his composition activities, he wrote and translated several books and articles. Baghtcheban translated several books by Turkish authors Nazim Hikmet, Yaşar Kemal and introduced the humorist Aziz Nesin to Iranians. In 1963, along with a group of prominent teachers and educators, including Lily Ahi, Touran Mirhadi and Abbas Yamini Sharif, Baghtcheban confounded the Children's Book Council (CBC) of Iran. The council is an NGO focused on developing and promoting children's literature in Iran.