Ehsan Matoori was born in 1979 in Iran. At the age of 9 he began learning the Santoor based on Maestro Faramarz Payvar’s method. He studied instrumental and vocal Radif (the Persian musical repertory) with Parviz Meshkatian and Pashang Kamkar. In 2001 he became a Santoor teacher at the Center of Art and Culture in Isfahan and several music schools in Tehran. The traditional style of Santoor playing, however, did not satisfy Ehsan’s creative and searching soul. He was looking for expanding his techniques through learning a modern style of playing Santoor, so he took lessons from Ardavan Kamkar, one of the greatest contemporary Santoor players known for his distinct playing style and tuning techniques.
Ehsan was one of the founding members of the University of Isfahan’s music ensemble called Navid-e Bahar, which was established in 1999, and, at the same time, he performed concerts with several other ensembles. In addition to playing the Santoor, he has studied music composition and harmony with Farhad Fakhroaldini and kids’ music with Soudabeh Salem.
After moving to the USA in 2013, Ehsan has performed with some well-known world music masters including Sandeep Das, Jamal Mohamed, Paul Sriji, Maeve Gilchrist, Matthew Coley, Andrew Bleck, and Taher Khan. He has also been a member of SMU world music ensemble since 2013.
Ehsan currently lives in Dallas, Texas, where he teaches Santoor. He is the founder and director of AramArt world music & art institute.
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- ehsan@aramartinstitute.com
