Tickets available beginning at noon April 6, 2011.
Simon Shaheen dazzles listeners with deft leaps from traditional Arabic sounds to jazz and Western classical styles. His soaring technique, melodic ingenuity, and unparalleled grace have earned him international acclaim as a virtuoso on the oud and violin. Shaheen is one of the most significant Arab musicians, performers, and composers of his generation. His work incorporates and reflects a legacy of Arabic music while forging ahead to new frontiers—embracing many musical styles in the process.
Most recently, Shaheen has focused much of his energies on Qantara. The band, whose name means “arch” in Arabic, fuses Arabic, jazz, Western classical, and Latin American music, transcending boundaries of genre and geography. The group’s release Blue Flame earned eleven Grammy nominations and was called “stunning” and “meticulously conceived” by the Los Angeles Times.
