CLARINET CONCERTO KINAN AZMEH
KINAN AZMEH clarinet
ENRIQUE MAZZOLA conductor
LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
KINAN AZMEH
CLARINET CONCERTO (2018)
It was in 2017, less than a week after President Trump issued his infamous travel ban, that the Seattle Symphony got in touch with me and invited me to take part in a concert called ‘Music Beyond Borders’, celebrating the cultures and people of the seven Muslim-majority countries whose citizens were temporarily banned from entering the US. While I was on stage performing my Suite for Improvisor and Orchestra in Seattle that night on 8 February 2017, I kept thinking what a rollercoaster of a week that was; within seven days I managed to experience the thrill of performing at the new Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the familiarity of being very close to home playing the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in Beirut, the worry and anger that come with being stranded
somewhere and not allowed to go home, and finally the relief of returning back to my apartment in New York, thanks to a block to the presidential executive order by Washington’s Attorney General.
These thoughts were about home; my home in Syria, my country’s men and women, my home in New York, my extended community here in the US, and all of those who spoke up against injustice everywhere.
When Classical Movements commissioned me to write a clarinet concerto for the Seattle Symphony’s 2018/19 season, all I wanted was to write a piece that would enjoy a lot of freedom. Therefore, what I have scored here is a piece that is free from any programmatic or autobiographical information. The only summary that can be given here is that there is an introduction, there is a lullaby, and there is an ecstatic dance in one of my favourite rhythms in Arabic music, called ‘Katakufti’ or ‘Nawari,’ and in a similar fashion to many of my earlier works, the soloist has lots of room to improvise.
I am very grateful to the Seattle Symphony and Classical Movements for bringing this piece to life and for making me feel at home thousands of miles away from home, and who reminded me that small gestures of solidarity can travel far, freely!
Kinan Azmeh, Iowa City, 2018
KINAN AZMEH b.1976
COMPOSER | CLARINET
Hailed by critics and audiences alike, clarinettist and composer Kinan Azmeh has gained international recognition for his distinctive voice across diverse musical genres. His album ‘Uneven Sky’, with the Deutsches SymphonieOrchester Berlin, won an Opus Klassik Award in 2019.
Originally from Damascus, Syria, Kinan takes his music to all corners of the world as a soloist, composer, collaborator and improviser. This performance of his own Clarinet Concerto – the UK premiere of the work – was Kinan’s debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and was later broadcast on Marquee TV. In March 2025 he returned to the LPO to give the European premiere of Dinuk Wijeratne’s Clarinet Concerto, having given the world premiere in 2019 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Other notable appearances have included at the Opéra Bastille, Paris; Tchaikovsky Grand Hall, Moscow; Carnegie Hall and the UN General Assembly, New York; London’s Royal Albert Hall; Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires; the Berlin Philharmonie; the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center, Washington DC; the Salzburg Mozarteum; Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie; and in his native Syria at the opening concert of the Damascus Opera House. He has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Dusseldorf Symphony, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Qatar Philharmonic and Syrian Symphony Orchestra, among others, and has shared the stage with such musical luminaries as Yo-Yo Ma, Daniel Barenboim, Marcel Khalife, John McLaughlin, François Rabbath and Djivan Gasparyan.
Kinan Azmeh’s own compositions include works for solo instruments, chamber and orchestral music, as well as music for film, live illustration and electronics. Recent works have been commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, The Knights, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Apple Hill String Quartet, Quatuor Voce, Brooklyn Rider, Cello Octet Amsterdam, Aizuri Quartet and Bob Wilson. Kinan’s first opera, Songs for Days to Come, which is sung fully in Arabic, was premiered in June 2022 in Osnabruck, Germany, to great acclaim.
A champion of contemporary music, Kinan has been honoured with dedications of several clarinet concertos by composer colleagues including Kareem Roustom, Dia Succari, Zaid Jabri, Saad Haddad, Kyle Sanna and Guss Janssen. Additionally, he has been the inspiration behind a multitude of chamber music compositions.
In addition to his own Arab-Jazz Quartet CityBand and his Hewar Trio, since 2012 Kinan has also played with the Silkroad Ensemble, whose 2017 Grammy Award-winning album ‘Sing Me Home’ features Kinan as clarinettist and composer.
In 2022 Kinan Azmeh was appointed by President Biden to the United States National Council for the Arts. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School as a student of Charles Neidich, and of both the Damascus High Institute of Music, where he studied with Shukry Sahwki, Nicolay Viovanof and Anatoly Moratof, and Damascus University’s School of Electrical Engineering. He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts from the City University of New York in 2013.
ENRIQUE MAZZOLA CONDUCTOR
Italian conductor Enrique Mazzola is Music Director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Principal Guest Conductor at Deutsche Oper Berlin.
A renowned interpreter of bel canto opera, Enrique specialises in French repertoire and early Verdi. He was Artistic and Music Director of the Orchestre National d’Île de France (ONDIF) from 2012–19, and in 2018 was named a Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres in recognition of his significant contribution to France’s musical landscape.
An accomplished interpreter of contemporary music, Enrique Mazzola commissioned and premiered several works with ONDIF, and has led many other premieres with major European orchestras. Opera credits also include the world premiere of Colla’s Il processo (La Scala); Il re nudo by Luca Lombardi (Teatro dell’Opera di Roma), Medusa by Arnaldo de Felice (Bavarian State Opera) and Isabella by Azio Corghi (Rossini Opera Festival).
LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s finest orchestras, balancing a long and distinguished history with its present-day position as one of the most dynamic and forward-looking ensembles in the UK. This reputation has been secured by the Orchestra’s performances in the concert hall and opera house, its many award-winning recordings, trailblazing international tours and wide-ranging educational work.
Founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932, the Orchestra has since been headed by many of the world’s greatest conductors, including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. In September 2021 Edward Gardner became the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor, succeeding Vladimir Jurowski, who became Conductor Emeritus in recognition of his transformative impact on the Orchestra as Principal Conductor from 2007–21.
The Orchestra is based at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it has been Resident Orchestra since 1992. Each summer it takes up its annual residency at Glyndebourne Festival Opera where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra for over 60 years. The Orchestra performs at venues around the UK and has made numerous international tours, performing to sell-out audiences in America, Europe, Asia and Australasia.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra made its first recordings on 10 October 1932, just three days after its first public performance. It has recorded and broadcast regularly ever since, and in 2005 established its own record label. These recordings are taken mainly from live concerts given by conductors including those with LPO Principal Conductors from Beecham and Boult, through Haitink, Solti, Tennstedt and Masur, to Jurowski and Gardner.
lpo.org.uk
Kinan Azmeh: Clarinet Concerto (UK premiere performance)
Recorded at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on 18 January 2023
Enrique Mazzola conductor
Kinan Azmeh clarinet
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Pieter Schoeman leader
Producer Nick Parker, Floating Earth
Engineer Mike Hatch, Floating Earth
Executive Producers Elena Dubinets, David Burke, Graham Wood
℗ 2025 London Philharmonic Orchestra Ltd.
lpo.org.uk
LPO–D943