The Aref Ensemble (Persian: گروه عارف) was one of the leading Persian classical music ensembles of the 20th century. It was founded by maestro Parviz Meshkatian, Hossein Alizadeh, and Mohammad Reza Lotfi in 1977. The group was named after Aref Ghazvini, the 18th century Iranian poet and composer. Aref was dedicated to the promotion and advancement of Persian traditional music. To some critics the Aref Ensemble, together with the Sheyda Ensemble (also founded by Meshkatian), revolutionised Persian music. In 1992 Meshkatian and the Aref Ensemble won first prize in the Spirit of the Earth Festival in England. The Aref’s long run ended with the death of Parviz Meshkatian in 2009, and the ensemble went inactive. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.