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List of Instructors: Siamak Shajarian, Instruments: Voice, Radif-Shenasi Area: Southern California
Siamak Shajarian born in the city of Mashad in northeastern Iran, is arguably the most accomplished Persian traditional signer living in the United States. He has performed with such masters as Jalil Shanaz, Faramarz Payvar, Mohammad Ali Kiani-nejad, Mohammad Esmaeli, and Farhang Sharif. Shajarian's public musical life began when he was sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and the Arts in Mashhad at age eleven. He inherited his talents in singing from his father and in calligraphy from his mother. He studied the Persian vocal art (avaz) and its Radif with Ghafoorian and Gholam Hossein Zahiredini, and completed his studies under the direction of his brother, Mohammad Reza Shajarian and Esmaeel Mehrtash. In addition to mastering the vocal Radif of Persian traditional music, Shajarian has also studied Tar, Santur and Tombak. In 1977, he moved to the United States. Soon after he joined Oshagh Ensemble and gave numerous concerts across the U.S. and Canada. Shajarian has appeared on many festivals and radio interviews. His most recent recordings are "Kereshmeh" with Payvar Ensemble, "Shoukh-e Sangdel" by Mohammad Ali Kiani-nejad, and "Light and Fire" with Lian Ensemble. Currently he lives in Los Angeles where he teaches Persian traditional vocal Radif.
Keyavash Nourai, Instruments: Violin, Kamancheh, Setar, Santur, Piano, Tombak Area: Southern California
Keyavash Nourai is a virtuoso violinist, multi-instrumentalist, orchestrator,and composer with a broad range of talents and knowledge. He has studied Western Classical, Jazz, and Indian music. Keyavash earned his Master's degree in violin performance from California Institute of the Arts. Where he pushed his performance capabilities to the very difficult extended techniques of modern 20th century classical piece. He has studied numerous other instruments such as Piano, Setar, Kamanche, Santour and Tombak to inform his playing and compositions. The wide range of his knowledge and his open artistic approach allows him to move comfortably, seamlessly and artfully between many disciplines of music. His intimate knowledge of many traditional and orchestral instruments, combined with his passion and creative approach to composition, make him an ideal orchestrator of Persian traditional music. Instrumentation, harmonies, and colorful juxtaposition of melodies in his hand bring a new vivid life to some of the old jewels of our culture.
Faraz Minooei Instruments: Santur Area: Northern California Faraz Minooei Was born in Tehran and began playing santur at the young age of nine. While studying with Behnam Mehrabi, he discovered a deep spiritual desire to study music, seeing music as an "unexplainable souvenir from the eternal truth". Faraz received his B.A. from San Francisco State University in 2008 as a Nagle Scholar and the first World/Jazz music major with santur as his primary instrument! As a full-time musician, Faraz is an indefatigable performer, composer, ethno-musicologist and teacher. He views studying music as a never-ending mission. In view of that, he has also had the good fortune to study with masters such as M. R. Lotfi, H. Omoumi, Royal Hartigan, Hafez Modirzadeh, Michael Dessen, Kojiro Umezaki and Christopher Dobrian. Since 2006, he has lectured and performed at many universities including SFSU, UCI, UCLA, UCSC and at the Society of Ethnomusicology. He has performed with noted ensembles in the United Sates, among which was his collaboration in 2009 with Yo Yo Ma and Kayhan Kalhor in the Silk Road Ensemble, for the 50th anniversary of the Lincoln Center. Faraz earned his Masters of Fine Arts degree in music with emphasis in Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology from the University of California in Irvine. His thesis, "Abstracting" Iranian Classical Music, challenges the traditional practice of Iranian Classical Music to introduce innovative and transformative functions of the music in contemporary society. Recipient of numerous scholarships and grants, Faraz is passionate about comprehending the intricacies of the human mind and the world around him, jocularly referring to "thinking" as his hobby. |