Foad Arbabi
Composer
Sound designer
Building sonic worlds for performing arts, games, films, orchestras, and everything in between.
Selected Works
Projects
2026
Project Paradox
A fast-paced game with sneaking elements and neon visuals.
2022
(MACBETH)
Shakespeare without Shakespeare, a rewriting of the classic.
2022
Brinn
Folie à deux or real friendship, a slightly psychedelic story about friendship, boundary crossing, and the desire to burn it all down.
2026
good:theatre
A mad trip down an AI rabbit hole, three sound effects, and a thousand bugs later.
Full Catalogue
Archive
2026
good:theatre
2026
Project Paradox
2026
Man kan ju inte leva på luftbubblor och drömmar liksom
2024-2026
Composition studies @ Gotlands Tonsättarskola
2025
Våld är min syster
2024
My SomeAir
2024
En God En Ond En Kul
2024
De Utvalda
2023
Debut
2023
Billy
2023
You Want it Darker
2023
Hussein
2022
(MACBETH)
2022
Brinn
2022
Blomsterkiosken
Who I Am
About
Foad Arbabi is a composer and sound designer based in Stockholm, with over two decades of experience spanning performing arts, live music, sound engineering and ensemble work.
These days he's drawn to contrasts and friction points, those places where things don't quite agree. Working by intuition and prefering variety over a signature sound, his work often starts with a piano improvisation, either translated to a full score for a live ensemble, or fully produced using recordings, samples, and synthesis.
His work has been featured at the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten), New Victory Theatre New York, Teater Galeasen, MDT, Norrlandsoperan and countless other stages. He composes primarily for acoustics, synthesis, and custom-built software instruments.
When not scoring, he tinkers with local LLMs, building tools for freelancers and audio plugins.
"Talk to me about string orchestration, frequency shifting, Qlab, Alfred Schnittke, subtractive synthesis, Reaper, extended techniques, Star Trek, or horror films."
Orchestration
Reaper
JSFX
Spatial Audio
Field Recording
Sound Design
Qlab
FMOD
Ambisonics
2026
good:theatre
Venue: moment:teater · Role: SFX artist, LLM tinkerer
I spent a week sorting out the LLM-based software used to orchestrate the performance, filling in for Daniel who is the main creator. My main tasks consisted of finding and fixing bugs, streamlining the STT / TTS pipeline including trying out different models, and tuning and testing the AI system.
2024
Project Paradox
Studio: Snappy Joints Studio · Role: Composer, Sound designer, Voice actor
During my time on Gotland I met up with Gabriele and Ivan to talk about scoring their game ‘Project Paradox’, a third person sneak-n-sword game with neon visuals and fast movement. Based on their references, we quickly settled on a synthwave-ish soundtrack with orchestral elements. This was a genuinely fresh experience and something I had wanted to do for a long time: soundtracking games. Using a mixture of hardware, software, sample libraries, and a software drum synth I designed myself, I made many sketches until we landed on a coherent sonic language. I also did some light SFX work, and recorded voice lines for the different enemy states. The work is currently ongoing with a demo planned by the end of 2026.
2022
Man kan ju inte leva på luftbubblor och drömmar liksom
Venue: Malmö Cemetary · Role: Composer, Voice, Mixing, Audio Programmer
By: Lisen Rosell & Foad Arbabi · Live on stage: Filip Runesson - violin · Caroline Karpinska - violin · Elina Nygren - viola · Johanna Hydén Lander - cello · Ronald Heu - guitar
A companion piece to “Blomsterkiosken” (2022), rearranged into a site specific audio work. The piece
opened in June at an outdoors venue at Östra Kyrkogården in Malmö, where an ensemble consisting of a string quartet and guitar played reworked versions of the music. I put into practice what I learned at my two years at Tonsättarskolan, and adapted the music for the ensemble. There was also an artist talk with Lisen Rosell, Petra Gipp and myself. This was the first time I heard music I previously recorded myself being played by a live ensemble of classically trained musicians.
2024-2026
Composition studies
Venue: Gotland School of Composition · Role: Student
Studied a 2 year composition programme learning notation, orchestration, harmony, counterpoint, and lots of other skills for writing music for live musicians in an orchestral setting. Our Head of Education was Mattias Svensson Sandell who also had many courses with us. My first year I had Joseph Lake as individual mentor, who gave me very clear artistic and technical advice, as I was mainly struggling with learning notation. In my second year I had Per Mårtensson. He helped me develop my artistic abilities as well as my technical, with honest and direct feedback, and a clear understanding of my vision. Other teachers have been Ida Lundén, Mattias Petersson, Marcus Wrangö, and of course a variety of guest composers from around the world. During these two years the following pieces where created and performed:
Ladder of the Gods - orchestra
· performed by Gotlandsmusiken
Fold - vibraphone, piano, two sopranos
· performed by students at Falun Musikkonservatorium
BIL.MP3 - trombone, saxophone
· performed by Ivo Nilsson & Jörgen Pettersson
Emergence - string quartet
· performed by Zilliacus quartet
2022
Våld är min Syster
Venue: Västmanlands teater · Role: Composer, Audio Programmer
Team: Writer: Athena Farrokhzad · Director: Carl Olof Berg · Scenography, costume, makeup: Linda Gonçalvez · Music: Foad Arbabi · Technician: Sofia Linde
For my second collaboration with Berg the theme was violence. Violence as resistance, as play, as authority, as choreography. I chose to work exclusively with woodwinds as to contrast the theme, creating a stressful yet soft vibe for much of the play.
2024
My SomeAir
Venue: Online · Role: Composer
Team: Director: Nikos Arapi · Photographer: Paul Edwards · Music: Foad Arbabi · Talent: Ida Inxi Holmlund · Styling: Paul Edwards · DOP & Edit: Adam Hermansson · MUA & Hair: Patryk Konopacki · Assistant: Johan Forsberg
Nikos approached me regarding his short, a very personal depiction of what could be called “mellanförskapet” in Swedish, being “in between” cultures, specifically about migration and the experience as the child of a migrant, at home in the new country yet not quite accepted by dominant white population. Nikos created together with dancer Ida Inxi Holmlund a choreography about a specific beach in Greece, the sound of waves and the deep blue of the ocean. Initially I wanted to make a layered composition but when Nikos heard my initial piano sketch he loved it, and so we went ahead and did a minimal piano composition with some sound design elements.
2024
En God En Ond En Kul
Venue: Kulturhuset Stadsteatern Skärholmen · Role: Composer
Team: Writers: Lisen Rosell, Yankho Kamwendo, Nils Närman Svensson, Per Öhagen · Idea, concept, direction: Lisen Rosell · Scenography & Costume & Make-up: Amanda Hedman Hägerström · Light: Josefin Hinders · Music: Foad Arbabi
Lisen asked if I wanted to do something for our younger audience with a live band on stage. With my background both playing in and producing bands I jumped on the opportunity. The play was about three fairies in a sort of collage of different fairy tales. The fairies started out as the Bad, the Good, and the Fun, but as the story unfolds things are shown not be that simple. A very fun and cute project, and somehow we made the keytar look really cool on stage.
2024
De Utvalda
Venue:Regionteater Väst · Role: Composer, Sound designer, Audio programmer
Team: Writer: Dimen Abdulla · Director: Nadja Hjorton · Music: Foad Arbabi · Scenography & costume design: Lisa Berkert Wallard · Make-up: Maja Asp · Lighting: Michael Forsberg
This project revealed a shift in me, moving away from sound design and textural work and focusing more on the naked piano, composition, harmony and, to some extent, music theory. The story was about Hilma af Klint, a legendary Swedish artist who only got recognition after her death. We focused on her time at art school and her relationship with her friend, a sort of sibling rivalry. The play became quite psychedelic, with a few dream sequences. My main inspiration was in trying to create a doorway to a different dimension using music, by triggering specific frequencies that soften the fabric of reality. Of course this is all fiction, but it was a very inspiring mindset to have. I used the piano a lot, with some strings and electronics.
2023
Debut
Venue:Teater Halland · Role: Composer, Sound designer
Team: Writer: Theo Boguslaw · Director, scenography, choreography, lighting: Carl Olof Berg · Music: Foad Arbabi · Costume design: Mary-Anne Buyondo · Make-up: Tove Eneroth
A story about three teenage boys meeting a porn star, idolising him, and later realising it’s not as much fun in reality as it is in fantasy. We dealt with violence and masculinity, the fragility of being a young boy forced to act like a man, and the vulnerability of performance. For the soundtrack I used lots of heavy beats and distorted synths, I sampled the lighting rig as it moved around and used that to create percussions. There was also electric guitar and, of course, some strings.
2023
Billy
Venue:DOCH - School of Dance & Circus · Role: Arranger and mixer
Team: By: Ofelia Jarl Ortega · Music: Los Barbara Blade · Music adaptation: Foad Arbabi · Lighting: Ronald Salas · Graduation concert with the graduating students from DOCH Bachelor's Programme in Dance Performance
Ofelia had a very clear idea for the music, and I mainly did remixes of music made by the Chilean band Los Barbara Blade, adapting it to her choreography. My first time working with so many dancers, and my first time doing a larger dance piece.
2023
You Want it Darker
Venue:MDT · Role: Composer, Sound designer, Audio programmer
Team: By: Lisen Rosell, Anna Vnuk, Sandra Medina · Music: Foad Arbabi · Scenography, lighting, costume: Josefin Hinders
A sort of spiritual successor to “the Dark Heart and the Sweet Part” (2020), starting as a boring lecture about medieval monks and the humorous and sometimes dirty scribblings they did on books, but quickly devolving into a cacophony of dissonant blasting brass, while the three performers get naked on stage, crawl on all four, and start blowing horns into each others asses. It just got better from there. One of the scenes was inspired by Michael Jackson's Thriller video, another scene had them picking silicone dicks from the ground and the trees, as if they were grown. A hilarious and moving project where I got to get really creative musically.
2023
Hussein
Venue:Månteatern · Role: Composer, Audio programmer
Team: Writer: Kristian Hallberg · Director: Elin Skärstrand · Scenography, costume: Jasminda Blanco Asplund · Music and lyrics: Foad Arbabi · Lighting: Ida Eklund
A moving piece about immigration, young love, and finding inner strength. Hussein moves in with a Swedish family and him and the daughter fall in love. But of course, complications arise and things are never as easy as they seem. Lots of strings, some marimba, and some electronics. One scene in particular was like a time lapse where six months passed, and I wrote a heartbreak song where the lyrics describe the events from the daughters perspective, while the other actors played out short scenes.
2022
(MACBETH)
Venue: Dramaten (Royal Dramatic Theatre) · Role: Composer, Audio Programmer
Team: Writers: Hannes Meidal, Jens Ohlin · Director: Jens Ohlin · Scenography, lighting: Susanna Hedin · Music: Foad Arbabi · Costume: Matilda Hyttsten · Hair, make-up: Anne-Charlotte Reinhold, Mimmi Lindell · Dramaturge: Irena Kraus
A sort of follow up to “Hamlet” (2017) and a rewriting of the classic Macbeth, this time on the main stage at Dramaten. I used the sound system to the maximum, having dozens of speakers at my disposal. The soundtrack consisted mainly of strings and synthesizer, with another David Bowie song as a central theme. One of my proudest moments as a composer was when the prompter complained about the bass, since it caused her manuscript to vibrate so much that it made reading impossible.
2022
Brinn
Venue: Unga Klara / Malmö Theatre Academy · Role: Composer, Choir leader
Team: Writer: Elmira Arikan, Farnaz Arbabi · Director: Farnaz Arbabi · Scenography: Jenny Kronberg · Lighting: Johan Sundén · Music: Foad Arbabi · Costume: Matilda Hyttsten · Make-up: Alexander Wernersson, Klara Jorméus
A big project in two acts with graduates from Malmö Theatre Academy on stage. It was a deep project with generous rehearsal time, which gave me an uncommon opportunity: To write choir music for the graduates. Probably the first time in my career I wished I knew notation, a skill I later learned at Gotland School of Composition. The soundtrack consists of heavily modified versions of existing songs with a fire theme. I used a lot of thick synthetic sounds with slow arpeggios, layered with the big choir on stage. Together with the psychedelic dance moments it became quite a hypnotic and deeply emotional project.
2023
Hussein
Venue:Inkonst · Role: Composer, Co-creator
Team: By: Lisen Rosell, Foad Arbabi, Petra Gipp · Producer: Sara Bergsmark
Combining performance, architecture, and music, this is an exploration of a broken mother-daughter relationship.
©2026 · Foad Arbabi