Caramoor Leadership

He was Composer-In-Residence with Classical Movements for the 2017 – 18 season. His discography includes three albums with his ensemble Hewar, several soundtracks for film and dance, a duo album with pianist Dinuk Wijeratne, and an album with his New York “Arabic-jazz” quartet, The Kinan Azmeh CityBand. His album Uneven Sky, with the Deutsches Symphony Orchestra, has won the OpusKlassik Award in 2019.

Azmeh serves as Artistic Director of the Damascus Festival Chamber Players, a pan-Arab ensemble dedicated to contemporary music form the Arab world. He is a frequent guest faculty at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music and is on the advisory board of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra. He is a member of Yo-Yo Ma's Silkroad Ensemble.

In today’s performance, Azmeh and his wife, Layale Chaker, present extracts of the double concerto that they are currently co-composing for violin, clarinet, and orchestra.

Amadi Azikiwe, moderator

Violist, violinist, and conductor Amadi Azikiwe has performed in major cities throughout the United States and has been a guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center. Abroad, he has performed throughout Israel, Canada, South America, Central America, Nigeria, India, Japan, and Hong Kong.

As an orchestral musician, he has performed with the New York Philharmonic and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and as guest principal violist of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. He has also performed as a soloist with many orchestras in the United States and abroad.

Currently, Azikiwe is Music Director of the Harlem Symphony Orchestra. He is also Community Engagement Director of the Harlem Chamber Players and a member of the Pressenda Chamber Players. A native of New York City, Azikiwe studied music at the North Carolina School of the Arts, the New England Conservatory, and Indiana University.