HUNTSVILLE-$5 after 5, art, wine and music April 11 wine from 5 until 8 PM music from g until 7:30 PM to form a perfect Thursday night at the Huntsville Museum of Art . Twelve Persian Folk Songs Collected and Arranged for VOICE AND PIANOFORTE by Blair Fairchild performed by Golnaz Khazei, Faraz Minooei and Reza Ahmadi.
Faraz Minooei was born in Tehran and began playing santur at the young age of nine. 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 a performer, composer, 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 Stanford University and at the Society of Ethnomusicology. He is the founder of Echomerz Ensemble and has performed with noted ensembles in the United States, 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) and the collaboration as a composer and santur player with the film director Bahram Beyzaie for three plays of Jana & Baladour, Ardaviraf’s Report, and Crossroads. Minooei is the founder and director of Bay Area Persian Music Ensemble.
Recipient of numerous scholarships and grants, he 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.
Golnaz Khazei is a native of Tehran, Iran and is a renowned percussionist specializing in the instrument of Daf. Golnaz has performed concerts and collegiate workshops, individually and with diverse performers throughoutIran, United State as well internationally in Armenia, Germany, Spain, Italy, Estonia, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium. Golnaz has worked and performed with the legendary. Kurdish folk lore master, Khalife Mirza Agha Ghosi, Mehrdad Karim Khavari and Alireza Feyz Bashipoor.In 2020 Golnaz and Faraz Minooei collaborated and co/founded C-Sharp International, LLC (www.csharp-int.com) for the preservation and growth of classical Persian Music.In 2022 Golnaz and Faraz published their first Album ” BARA” (composed by Faraz Minooei). Golnaz has also performed in the following Albums:1. Bigah , 2. Naghshe Khial , 3. Ab Nan Avaz , 4. Colorful Garment , 5. Bara.
Reza Ahmadi is an accomplished accompanist, specializing in various instruments including Piano, Organ, Harpsichord
and Cello with the Mission College Symphony in San Jose California. Reza has dedicated a lifetime of study to western classical music and Persian music, including percussion and string instruments and has performed with various ensembles in the United States.
Enjoy $5 admission on Thursdays from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. at the Huntsville Museum of Art. Explore the Museum’s latest exhibitions or visit favorites from the Museum collection during this after-hours event. Wine service has returned. Guests aged 21+ will be able to purchase a glass of wine from the Church Street Wine Shoppe for $7.
Media Release/Sherry Brukner – Huntsville Museum of Art
