Farhad Khosravi

“ … A fine instrumentalist who is musical in every way, it was a pleasure to hear his work, combining fine improvisational qualities with his command of the instrumentally attractive, melodically alluring sounds of his santur.” – Calgary Herald

Farhad was born in 1988 in Isfahan, Iran. He started learning santur (Persian dulcimer) from a young age. He earned experience in performance and composition through collaboration with several professional music and theatre ensembles in Iran. Farhad moved to Canada in January 2012 to continue his studies at the University of Alberta. Since then he has performed as a santur player and composer with the Pegah ensemble, Karim Gillani, and as a solo artist.

He was admitted to the prestigious World Music Residency program at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in 2015, studying with world-renowned musicians Kiya Tabassian, Ziya Tabassian, Dhruba Ghosh, Yogesh Samsi, Charbel Rouhana, and Didem Basar. During this music residency he composed and arranged the piece “Spring in Banff” which premiered at the Greenham theatre in March 2015.

In January 2017, Farhad received the Edmonton Arts Council’s Cultural Diversity in the Arts project grant to record his debut album titled ‘Sleeping in Sorrow’. This album explores the theme of child labour, capturing the sounds and feelings of children working in harsh environments to make a living, deprived from their basic needs. This work is a journey through their lives and aims to give a deeper understanding of the true feelings of these children. Though rooted in Iranian classical music, different textures of percussion, mixed with Western cello and violin, merge together with the melodic sounds of the santur to tell the story of child labour. A story that cannot be told by words alone. The album was released on September 17th, 2017 at the Royal Alberta Museum concert hall and raised $1,400 to support victims of child labour.

In his next album, Farhad will be recording a set of pieces composed for santur and percussion. These pieces form a musical journey through his personal life challenges and struggles. These compositions are influenced by the life story of his late mother, and contemporary poems by Sohrab Sepehri, in which he dives deep into philosophical questions of life, and social changes happening in his home country, Iran. In this work, Farhad will explore more sounds and textures through experimenting with different techniques and effects on his instrument, the santur, and on percussion played by Daniel Stadnicki. Farhad and Daniel have performed multiple times together as a duo and in Farhad’s quintet.

Awards

• Cultural Diversity in the Arts project grant, Edmonton Arts Council, 2017.
• World Music Residency, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, 2015.