Ostad Mahmoud Zoufonoun: Was born in Abadeh, Iran in 1920. He began his life-long involvement with music at the age of five by imitating his father’s tar playing. At the age of twelve, already a local teacher for tar, he became enamored with the violin, and, unable to obtain an instrument of his own, the young Mahmoud designed and made his own violin. After learning to play his entire tar repertoire on the new instrument, he decided to seek a violin teacher in order to refine his technique. Following initial lessons from a Czech violinist in Shiraz, Ostad Zoufonoun moved to Tehran where he would eventually master violin technique under the tutelage of Rubik Gregorian. In Tehran, Mahmoud combined his own musical ingenuity with his newly found command of the violin, placing himself among an elite group of composers and soloists. At age twenty, upon winning an audition, he began a long affiliation as soloist, composer, arranger, transcriber, and orchestral musician with the National Radio. In these roles, Ostad Zoufonoun would collaborate with likes of Banan, Mahjoobi, Maroofi, Jalil Shahnaz, Saba, Maestro Khalegi, and many other prominent musicians of the time. Concurrently, he continued his life-long passion for teaching both in his private studio, and at a variety of prestigious institutions including the newly founded National School for Iranian Music, The Shabaneh Adult Art School, Institute for the Arts, The University of Tehran , and The Danesh-e Sarah-e Honar. Following his retirement in 1976 from the National Radio and Television, Ostad Zoufonoun and his family emigrated to the USA. Since then he has continued teach, compose, record, and perform traditional Persian music. His most recent large-scale work, “Nagdh-e Sufi” has been recorded, notated, and published for future generations to enjoy and study arguably some of the most complete, innovative, and elaborate musical explorations on the mode of Rastpanjgah.

Amin Zoufonoun: Amin Zoufonoun was born in 1971 in Tehran, Iran. Amin's interest in traditional Persian music was sparked at the age of thirteen, when he took up the setar and began his study of the radif under the guidance of his father, Mahmoud Zoufonoun. In addition, Amin's work in this great musical tradition has continuously been supplemented and heavily influenced by recordings of other great improvisors and composers of past generations, including in particular Jalil Shahnaz, Abol Hasan Saba, Ahmad Ebadi, Morteza Mahjoobi, Gholam Hossein Banan, Ruholla Khaleghi and Ali Naghi Vaziri. In recent years, Amin has also had the privilege of refining his technique on the setar under the direction of contemporary master setarists, most notably his uncle Jalal Zoufonoun, as well as Hossein Alizadeh and M.R. Lotfi. Amin has performed in a number of concerts and world music festivals throughout the U.S. both as soloist and group performer along with his father and brothers (The Zoufonoun Ensemble). Amin holds a Bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering and a Juris Doctorate degree and currently works as an intellectual property attorney in the Northern California area.

Amir Zoufonoun: Was born in Tehran in 1959. Amir became interested in Persian music at an early age. Initially, he imitated the style of the classical singer, Banon, and later at the age of twenty he began playing the setar. Since then Amir has refined his technique and style of singing and setar playing under his father’s guidance as well as other master musicians such as Alizadeh and Lotfi. His main focus has been to interpret, record, and perform his father’s classical compositions and songs. Amir pursues the art of “avaz” or improvised singing with a keen interest in discovering the most effective “gusheh” and phrasing in order to convey the true meaning of the chosen ghazal or lyric. He has performed as vocalist and setarist in the Zoufonoun Ensemble throughout the U.S. He holds masters degrees in electrical engineering and business and has been working in various executive management positions in Silicon Valley.

Shahram Kazemi: Was born in Tehran, Iran in 1958. He began playing Tonbak (Zarb) at the age of five, while being influenced by his father, and amateur violinist. Shahram enhanced his techniques on the tonbak with the help of ostad Hooshang Esmaili. Shahram left Iran at the age of Thirteen and came to America where he has been performing and recording with numerous well-known musicians around the country including Mahmoud Zoufonoun. Shahram holds a bachelor degree in Electrical engineering and is employed in the field of biomedical engineering.

Ramin Zoufonoun: Was born in Tehran, Iran. He has been living in the US since 1976. His strength and primary interest is in the area of improvisation on the Persian-tuned piano, and the tar. He owes much of his knowledge of Persian modal system (radif) and fundamentals of playing tar to his father and mentor, Mahmoud Zoufonoun. He studied tar with Mahmoud Zoufonoun, Hossein Alizadeh and Mohammad Reza Lotfi. Ramin has studied music theory and harmony with Anna Poklewski. He also explores possibilities within the realm of electronic music. Ramin has been performing in numerous cities across the United States as a soloist and as a member of traditional Iranian and cross-cultural ensembles. He appears on several recordings and frequently shares his knowledge and experience as a guest lecturer/ performer at various educational institutions. Ramin studied physics, mathematics, and electrical engineering at San Jose State University and is employed in the field of wireless communications.

Omid Zoufonoun: Was born in Tehran, Iran in 1974. He has maintained an involvement with music that balances both his traditional Persian musical heritage with a thorough knowledge of Western Classical music as cellist, composer, conductor, guitarist, pianist, and teacher. Omid began playing cello at age nine both at home with his father and brothers, as well as in school as an orchestral musician. During high school, he would learn the guitar, playing and eventually teaching a wide range of styles. Omid studied music theory and history at the De Anza college, and went on to complete his Bachelors degree, Magna Cum Laude, in classical guitar performance at the U.S.C. School of Music, where he received the prestigious Pi Kappa Pi music honors society award for highest undergraduate achievement. During his studies at U.S.C., Omid began exploring his passion for orchestral music as a conductor. After series of successful orchestral concerts featuring the music of Mozart, Copland, Shostakovich, and Ravel, as well as an invitation to conduct Igor Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat for a radio broadcast at L.A. County Museum of Art, Omid moved to Vienna, Austria where he has continued his conducting studies at the Vienna State Conservatory.