Musiques traditionnelles
Kinan Azmeh
Hailed as a “virtuoso” and “intensely soulful” by the New York Times and "spellbinding" by the New Yorker. Syrian-born, genre-bending composer and clarinetist Kinan Azmeh has been touring the globe with great acclaim as a soloist, composer and improviser in the most prestigious concert halls in the world such as Opera Bastille, the UN’s general assembly, die Berliner Philharmonie, the Library of Congress, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and the Damascus Opera House for its opening concert.
He has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Daniel Barenboim, John McLaughlin, and Djivan Gasparian, among others and leads his own bands Hewar and Kinan Azmeh CityBand.
He is also a Silkroad ensemble artist with whom he won a Grammy in 2016. As a composer, his recent commissions include pieces for the Seattle Symphony, the New York Philharmonic and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.
He is a graduate of The Juilliard School, the Damascus High Institute of Music, and Damascus University’s School of Electrical Engineering. He holds a doctorate in music from the City University of New York.
Photo credit: Joanna Wizmur
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