Board of Directors


Shahrokh Yadegari - President, Artistic Director

Shahrokh Yadegari, composer, sound designer, and producer, has collaborated with such  artists as Peter Sellars, Robert Woodruff, Gabor Tompa, Maya Beiser, Steven Schick, Vibeke Sorensen, Yolande  Snaith, John Malashock, David Schweiszer, Michael Dessen, Keyavash Nourai, Hossein Omoumi, and Siamak Shajarian. He has  performed and his music and sound designs have been presented internationally in United  States, Canada, Chile, Europe, China, Australia, and Cuba in such venues as the Carnegie  Hall, Festival of Arts and Ideas, Ravinia Festival, Ruhr-Triennale, Vienna Festival, Holland  Festival, Forum Barcelona, Japan America Theatre, the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), the Institut fur Neue Musik und Musikerziehung (Darmstadt), Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley, and Contemporary Museum of Art, San Diego. Yadegari holds a BS in  Electrical Engineering from Purdue University a Master’s in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT’s Media Lab, and a Ph.D. in music from University of California, San Diego. He has  worked at Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM), founded by Pierre Boulez, and he is one of the founders and artistic director of Kereshmeh Records and  Persian Arts Society. Yadegari was the Chair for the subcommittee of the Digitally Mediated  Performances of the Art Gallery at SIGGRAPH 2007 in San Diego. He is currently on the  faculty as Head of Design at the department of Theatre and Dance at University of California,  San Diego, where he has founded a new progressive program in Sound Design. Among his  recent collaborations are (The New) Ur Sonata with Steven Schick, Stay the Hand with John  Malashock, Tobacco Road with David Schweiser, Provenance with Maya Beiser and Robert  Woodruff, and Tower Sounds performed in Tower by Ann Hamilton on Oliver Ranch.


Parvin Javadi - Vice President and Treasurer, Associate Director

Parvin Javadi is a music producer and consultant for the performing arts. She is the host of KIRN’s Radio show Fresh Air “Havayeh Tazeh”. Parvin is the co-founder of Kereshmeh Records and the Persian Arts Society . She has been producing, presenting and promoting Classical and Folk Persian music in USA since 1986. She has been organizing North America Tours/Concerts for the most renowned Iranian musicians such as Mohammad Reza Shajarian, Shahram Nazeri, Parisa, Sima Bina, Hossein Alizadeh, Kayhan Kalhor, Hossein Omoumi, Ali Akbar Moradi, Siamak Shajarian, Keyvash Nourai, the Kamkars and the Dastan Ensemble. To present and introduce Persian Music to American audience Parvin has collaborated with American organizations such UCLA, Cal Arts, World Music Institute and Asia Society, KPFK and KCRW. In addition to her work in the performing arts, Parvin has produced several CD’s for the Kereshmeh Records label, working with traditional and contemporary artists. Parvin has a BA from CSUF in fine Arts, an MA in mass communications (Radio, TV, film) from Northridge and an MA in Psychology from Phillips Graduate Institute. She is currently practicing Psychotherapy in Los Angeles combining her experience and passion for both psychology and music into the practice of Music Therapy.


Bibi Kasrai - Secretary

Bibi Kasrai is currently the Founder and CEO of Harvard Cookie Girl- an after school enrichment program at the nexus of education and nutrition that teaches kids how to prepare and enjoy healthy food. Her company has been featured by Nickelodeon and praised by educators, school districts and parents.   Prior to HCG, Bibi had a long and successful career as a major gift fundraiser and was Chief Development Officer of high profile non-for profits such as The J. Craig Venter Institute and the XPrize Foundation where she launched their multi million dollar campaigns. Her efforts at Xprize led to the successful launch at the Google HQ, which led to the $30M lunar prize.  From 2001 to 2005 Bibi also worked as Vice President of Major Gifts and Vice President of External Relations for Scripps Health’s five hospitals.  Before joining Scripps, she was the vice president of Public Affairs at Walker Digital, the incubator that launched Priceline.com. Prior to that, she and her husband co-founded SOHO Inc., a pioneer in ergonomic, ready-to-assemble computer furniture. Their company’s innovative business model was featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Boston Globe, the San Diego Union Tribune, San Diego Magazine and other publications. Prior to SOHO, she was the marketing director of Thermolase Corporation, a $1billion public company based in San Diego.  While at Thermolase she created, managed and launched product lines for the company’s spa and physician markets. Before Thermolase Bibi worked on special banking assignments for the consulting firm of McKinsey & Co. in Russia. Bibi Kasrai spent four years with the World Bank as public relations officer for Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.  While at the World Bank, she performed extensive organizational work for the first privatization campaign in Russia. She received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and her B.A and M.A. in television journalism from the Moscow State University School of Journalism. Bibi is currently a volunteer advisor to the Encyclopedia Iranica board and has launched the VivaIranica! Campaign to entice younger generation of Iranians to donate their time and funds to their culture.  She also sits on the board of the Persian Arts Society. Fluent in French, Russian, Persian, English, Spanish, she also has a working knowledge of Polish, Bulgarian and Byelorussian.


Julia Carnahan
Julia Carnahan (Producer) is a producer and consultant in the performing arts. In 1989, she began working with director Peter Sellars and participated in the development of the 1990 and 1993 Los Angeles Festivals. She also worked on Sellars’ productions of The Merchant of Venice; I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky; Little Mahagonny/Bach Cantatas; Peony Pavilion; The Story of a Soldier; and most recently The Children of Herakles. Carnahan was Production Coordinator of offsite installations for Bill Viola: Downtown L.A. in conjunction with his retrospective at Los Angeles Couty Museum of Art in 1997, and was Artistic Director for the inaugural season of Sounds of LA at the Getty Center in 1998.  In 1999, Carnahan helped found Sellars’ production company, Old Stories: New Lives.  In 2004, she was Associate Producer of Sellars’ critically acclaimed production of For An End to the Judgment of God / Kissing God Goodbye starring John Malpede and Ruth Forman presented at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT) and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco.  In 2000, she worked with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles as the producer of Happy End, a contemporary theatrical rendition of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s play. From 2001-2005, she collaborated with John Malpede and the Los Angeles Poverty Department on Agents & Assets, a national theater project that puts “the war on drugs” in a larger political context while promoting a conversation about the root causes and policies that perpetuate poverty. Agents & Assets has been performed in Los Angeles (2001), Detroit (2002), and Cleveland (2004).   Her ongoing work as a consultant has also included the International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, CT (1996 & 1997) and the World Festival of Sacred Music–the Americas with the Dalai Lama (1999). In addition Carnahan has provided consulting services to the Music Center; The Durfee Foundation; the Los Angeles Master Chorale; the Urban Institute; California Arts Council; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; and Santa Fe Stages. Carnahan lives and works in Los Angeles, California.


Farhad Zaerpour

Farhad Zaerpoor is a Senior Project Leader at the Aerospace Corporation, a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) assisting the government on space technical and policy issues. Prior to that he was a researcher at RAND Corporation. He has also been the president of Persian Arts Society, a non-profit company promoting Iranian classical music in the U.S. He had been holding that position for the past three years. Born and raised in Iran, he immigrated to the United States in 1985 where he earned MS degrees in mathematics and industrial engineering. He currently lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife and two college age children. His interest outside of his profession include philosophy, Iranian classical music, and outdoors sports.