Casa Árabe is hosting the first concert in Madrid by composer and clarinet player Kinan Azmeh, acclaimed as being “intensely moving” and a “virtuoso” by the newspaper The New York Timesand “fascinating” by The New Yorker, while acknowledged by the CBC for his “incredibly rich sound.”

At this performance at Casa Árabe, Kinan Azmeh, a clarinet player, composer and solo performer who harks from Syria, will be accompanied by Manfred Leuchter, an accordionist (Germany) and Bodek Janke, a percussionist (Germany).

Originally from Damascus, Syria,Kinan Azmeh has taken his music on a journey throughout every corner of the world as a solo performer, composer and improviser. His most notable appearances include the Opera Bastille, in Paris; Tchaikovsky Grand Hall, in Moscow; Carnegie Hall and the UN General Assembly, in New York; the Royal Albert Hall, in London; Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires; Der Philharmonie, Berlin; Library of Congress, Kennedy Center, Washington DC; Mozarteum, Salzburg, Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, and in his native land of Syria, in the opening act of a concert at the Damascus Opera House.

This will be his first concert in the capital of Spain. Kinan’s compositions include several works of music created for solos, chamber music and orchestra pieces, as well as music for film, and live and electronic illustrations. He has been a resident composer at many artist-in-residency programs. Kinan’s albums include three recorded with his ensemble Hewar, several soundtracks for films and dance shows, a duo album with pianist Dinuk Wijeratne and an album with his quartet Kinan Azmeh CityBand, his “Arabic-jazz” from New York. He is the artistic director of the Damascus Festival Chamber Players, a pan-Arab group dedicated to making contemporary music from the Arab world. Kinan is frequently a guest professor at the Apple Hill Chamber Music Center and forms part of the advisory board of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra. He is also a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silkroad Ensemble, whose Grammy-winning album from 2017, “Sing Me Home,” was Kinan’s introduction as a clarinetist and composer.

Concert information sheet