Farhad is an Edmonton-based composer and santur player. He has been described by the Calgary Herald as “ … 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.” In 2017, Farhad received the Edmonton Arts Council’s Cultural Diversity in the Arts project grant to record his debut album titled ‘Sleeping in Sorrow’. Though rooted in Iranian classical music, different textures of percussion, mixed with Western cello and violin, merge together with the santur to tell the story of child labour; a story that cannot be told by words alone. The album was released in September 2017 and was shortlisted for the Edmonton Music Prize in 2017, and nominated for the Edmonton Music Awards and the Western Canadian Music Awards in 2018. Farhad received both Alberta Foundation for the Arts and Edmonton Arts Council grants in 2018 to record his sophomore album titled “Mosàfer” – A santur and percussion duo that translates some of the deepest existential Persian poetries into instrumental music. This album is set to release in summer 2020. In this work, Farhad has explored 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.