Faraz Minooei was born in Tehran and began playing santur at the age of nine. He has a B.A. from San Francisco State in 2008 as a Nagle Scholar and the first World/Jazz music major with santur. He is a full-time musician, performer, composer, and teacher. Since 2006, he has lectured and performed at many universities. He is the founder of Echomerz Ensemble, and has performed with noted ensembles in the United Sates, among which was his collaboration in 2009 with Yo Yo Ma and 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. Recipient of numerous scholarships and grants, he earned his MFA degree in music 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.