فراز مینوئی
متولد ۱۳۶۰ شمسی در تهران، سنتور را از ۹ سالگی مینواخت و لیسانس موسیقی را از دانشگاه ایالتی سانفرانسیسکو به عنوان تنها فارغ التحصیلی که در رشته "سنتور" و موسیقی ایرانی تخصص گرفت، کسب کرد. در محضر استادی نظیر مهرابی، لطفی، عمومی، هارتیگان، مدیرزاده، فیروز بخت و آلن کوشان حضور داشته است و علاوه بر اجرا، آموزش و سخنرانی در موسیقی ایرانی، سنتور و آهنگسازی (تصنیف) مشغول اتمام فوق لیسانس میباشد. فراز بورسها و جوایز مختلفی را دریافت کرده و علاوه بر موسیقی به ریاضیات، فلسفه، تاریخ، هنر (خطاطی و نقاشی و غیره) و عکاسی علاقه فراوان دارد.
Born 1981 in Tehran, he has played the santour since he was nine, and was the only World/Jazz music major an Francisco State University with Persian santour as his primary instrument. He has studied under master musicians such as Mehrabi, Lotfi, Omoumi, Hartigan, Modirzadeh, Firouzbakht, and Kushaan. He is currently active in performing, composing, teaching and continuing his graduate studies.
Born in 1981 in Tehran, Faraz Minooei began playing the santour at the age nine. While studying with Mr. Behnam Mehrabi he found a deep spiritual desire to study music, an "unexplainable souvenir from the eternal truth". A graduate from San Francisco State University, Faraz is a Nagle Scholar, and the only World/Jazz music major in Northern California, with Persian santour as his primary instrument. He is continuing his graduate studies, on a Graduate Diversity Fellowship, in Masters of Fine Art (Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology) at the University of California, Irvine.
As a full time musician, Faraz is active in the fields of performance, composition, ethnomusicology, and teaching. He has been continuing his education in music with master musicians such as Mohammad Reza Lotfi, Hossein Omoumi, Royal Hartigan, Hafez Modirzadeh, Mahyaar Firouzbakht, Alan Kushaan, and other distinguished musicians and instructors.
He has given lectures and demonstration of the Iranian music on santour at various universities and at the Society of Ethnomusicology. He has been the recipient of several scholarships and grants (such as "Meet the Composer"). In addition to music, he is interested in photography, arts, philosophy, mathematics, and history.
