Al-Bustan is pleased to present the sixth and final concert in our 2011-12 season of the Arab Music Concert Series featuring flutist Maron Khoury. The concert features a selection of Western and Arab Classical compositions by Lowell Liebermann, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Theobald Bohm, Maron Khoury, Kinan Abou-afach, and Mohammed Abdel Wahab.

Maron Khoury, a virtuoso flutist born in Tarshiha, Israel, was appointed to the second flute position with The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York City at age 20. Khoury started playing the flute at the age of 11; three years later, he was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia to study with renowned flutist Jeffrey Khaner, and graduated in 2009. Khoury has performed under the direction of Maestro James Levine, Simon Rattle, Daniel Barenboim, Otto Werner Mueller, and Christoph Eschenbach among many others. Prior to enrollment at Curtis, Khoury studied with Eyal Ein-Habar and Uri Shoham (Israel Philharmonic), Sara Andon (Idyllwild Arts Academy), and David Shostak (Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.) Khoury is a recipient of several grants from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Charles M. Kanev Memorial Fellowship. In addition, he is a winner of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship and the Schoen Fellowship Grant in honor of Charlotte White.

Date: Sunday, April 29, 2012

Time: 4pm

Location: Trinity Center for Urban Life at 22nd and Spruce Streets in Center City, Philadelphia

Discounted Parking is kindly offered by EZ Park at several nearby locations. Click here to download parking coupon to present to parking attendant.

Admission: $30 or $15 students with ID. Purchase tickets.

Questions? Contact Al-Bustan or call 267-809-3668.

Performance by

Bryan Wagorn- piano
Canadian pianist Bryan Wagorn has appeared throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, and Asia as both soloist and chamber musician and has been broadcast on CBC Radio, Radio-Canada, Chinese Central Television and Rogers Television. Since 2007, Wagorn has been on faculty of the National Arts Centre of Canada’s “Summer Music Institute” directed by Pinchas Zukerman, and is currently teaching at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music with distinction and holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Ottawa, and a Master of Music degree from the Mannes College of Music. Wagorn is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Musical Arts program at the Manhattan School of Music. His teachers have included Stephane Lemelin, Jacob Lateiner, Horacio Gutierrez, and Andre-Michel Schub.

Hanna Khoury - violin/viola
Khoury is Director of Al-Bustan’s Music Program.

Kinan Abou-afach – cello
Abou-afach is a member of Al-Bustan’s resident takht ensemble.

Hafez El Ali Kotain – percussion
Kotain is a member of Al-Bustan’s resident takht ensemble.

For a sampling of last year’s concert featuring Maron Khoury, see this performance of Dance Mediterranea.

Al-Bustan is pleased to present the fourth concert in our Arab Music Concert Series featuring the works of composer Kareem Roustom: Abu Jmeel’s Daughter – US premiere, Buhur, and other film score excerpts.

Read more about the concert on our blog.

Kareem Roustom is an Emmy nominated composer who has composed music for film, television, concert halls, and album projects.  Born in Syria, he has written the scores for many acclaimed films including Budrus and Amreeka.  His score for the PBS documentary “The Mosque in Morgantown” earned him an Emmy nomination in the 31st Annual News & Documentary Emmy awards.  In June 2010 Roustom was awarded a fellowship to the prestigious Sundance Film Composers Lab held annually at the Sundance Institute. As a concert composer, Roustom has been commissioned by groups such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, The Boston Children’s Chorus, and the Damascus Festival Chamber Ensemble, among others.

Date: Saturday, February 25, 2012

Time: 8pm

Location: Trinity Center for Urban Life at 22nd and Spruce Streets in Center City, Philadelphia

Discounted Parking is kindly offered by EZ Park at several nearby locations. Click here to download parking coupon to present to parking attendant.

Admission: $30 or $15 students with ID. Purchase tickets or a subscription for the last three concerts of the Concert Series.

Questions? Contact Al-Bustan or call 267-809-3668.

Performance by

Jeri Lynne Johnson – conductor
Johnson is the Founding Music Director of the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra. Maestra Johnson began conducting during her doctoral studies in music theory and history at the University of Chicago. While a student in Chicago, Johnson was awarded the 1998 Jorge Mester Conducting Scholarship to attend the Aspen Music Festival and since then her conducting teachers and mentors have included Sir Simon Rattle, Marin Alsop and Daniel Barenboim among others. Soon after, Johnson was engaged by The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and served as that ensemble’s assistant conductor from 2000-2004.

Hanna Khoury - violin/viola
Khoury is Director of Al-Bustan’s Music Program.

Kinan Abou-afach – cello
Abou-afach is a member of Al-Bustan’s resident takht ensemble.

Kinan Azmeh – clarinet
Azmeh was the first Arab to win the premier prize at the 1997 Nicolai Rubinstein International Competition, Moscow. Born in Damascus, he has appeared as soloist with the Bavarian radio orchestra, the West-eastern Divan orchestra, the Kiev Camerata, the Corasara Orchestra, and the Syrian symphony Orchestra among others and has shared the stage with Marcel Khalife, Daniel Barenboim, Zakir Hussein Francois Rabbath, Solhi-al-Wadi, Manfred Leuchter, and Kevork Mourad, among others. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School where he was a student of Charles Neidich, and of The High institute of Music in Damascus where he studied with Shukry Sahwki, Nicolay Viovanof and Anatoly Moratof. Azmeh is currently finishing his doctoral work in music composition at the City University of New York. Azmeh’s website.

Vladimir Dyo - violin
Dyo has won awards in numerous competitions including First Prize in the Michelangelo Abbado International Competition in Milan, Grand Prize in the International Violin Competition in Astana, Kazakhstan, and Second Prize in the International Yampolsky Competition in Russia. Born in Almaty, Kazakhstan, he began studying violin at the age of 7 and at 12 he had his first solo appearance with the Kazakh State Orchestra. As a soloist and the concertmaster of the Kazakh State Chamber Orchestra “Academy of Soloists” Vladimir has toured and performed in various countries including Austria, Italy, France, England, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Russia and the U.S.A. He earned his Artist Certificate and Master’s degree from the Southern Methodist University where he studied with Dr. Eduard Schmieder. Currently he is a DMA candidate in Violin Performance at Temple University where he was appointed as a full-time faculty member in 2011.

Megan Emigh – flute
Emigh has been a prizewinner in some of the world’s most prestigious flute competitions including the 2009 Kobe International Flute Competition and the 2008 Jean-Pierre Rampal Competition. She studied for four years at the Juilliard School of Music Pre-College Division before going to Switzerland where she earned her Bachelor Degree with Honors from the Basel Musik Akademie. Currently Principal Flute of Symphony in C, Emigh resides in the Philadelphia area and performs regularly as both a soloist and chamber musician.

Leila Buck – narrator
Buck is a Lebanese American storyteller, playwright, actress and teaching artist who has performed, lived, and taught across the U.S., Australia, Europe and the Arab World, including two tours in Denmark as a U.S. State Department Cultural Envoy. Buck is a member of the Public Theater’s inaugural Emerging Writers Group, and holds a Master’s in Educational Theatre and Middle East Studies from NYU. Her prose, poetry and critical essays have appeared in American Theatre and Mizna magazine, and her theatrical work has been featured in The New York Times and Lebanon’s Daily Star. Her essay on Arab-American political theater can be found in Etching Our Own Image: Voices from the Arab American Art Movement, from Cambridge Scholars Press. Buck’s website.