Meridian Gallery presents an evening of new music in two sets performed by the Santomieri-Farhadian Duo and composer/sound artist Donald Swearingen.

The Santomieri-Farhadian Duo is Dean Santomieri (resonator guitars & objects) and Thea Farhadian (violin & objects).

Thea Farhadian is an interdisciplinary artist and performer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her projects include solo violin & interactive electronics, laptop performance, improvisation, sound art, and video. Thea's work has been seen internationally in venues in Berlin, London, Armenia, San Francisco, and New York.

Guitarist Dean Santomieri composes and improvises using electric resonator guitars. He also regularly performs as a spoken word artist. In addition to his solo and duo work he has been associated with the groups: Donkey Boy; Malcolm Mooney & the 10th Planet; I Franzen, Ghost in the House and the Cornelius Cardew Choir.

Photo of Santomieri-Farhadian Duo by Donald Swearingen.

Hear a sample of the Santomieri-Farhadian duo here.

Donald Swearingen is an Oakland, California-based composer, performer, multimedia artist, and designer of software and hardware systems for interactive performance and installation. A classically-trained musician, he began his undergraduate studies as a piano major, but soon expanded his horizons to include electronic and computer music, completing an interdisciplinary program in electronic music synthesis, composition, and performance. In addition, he holds advanced degrees in mathematics and physics.

For the past 20 years, his work has centered around the use of movement and gesture as the source of media control in an expanded, computer-assisted performance environment, employing instruments and software of his own design. He has also designed performance systems for numerous artists, including Pamela Z, Miya Masaoka, Guillermo Galindo, Todd Shalom, Elise Kermani, Thea Farhadian and many others.

His work has been presented in the San Francisco Bay Area at venues such as Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Cowell Theatre, Life on the Water, the Lab, Cell Space, SomArts, Brava Theatre, ODC, and Artists Television Access; and he has traveled, performed, and lectured widely in the United States and abroad. He is a founder and member of the advisory board of the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, and was a featured performer in its 10th season series in 2012.