Kianoush Khalilian is a Ney player and composer in traditional Iranian style. He began his studies with very distinguished Iranian masters, including Hassan Nahid in 1990 in Tehran; five years later he ranked first in the nationwide Iranian schools competition for Ney performance. Kianoush ranked third in the category of musical composition in Iranian Youth Music Festival in 2009.
He has performed in Iran, Czech Republic, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, and various venues in Canada. Kianoush has been featured at festivals such as Fajr International Music Festival (Iran), San Lorenzo Music Festival (Italy), Toronto Jazz Music Festival and Tirgan Festival (Canada).
He was awarded a Certificate of Traditional Iranian Music in the category of Radif performance from oustad Hassan Nahid. As a music teacher, he has compiled and published technical studies and repertoire he used in his teaching into an instructional book for the Ney.