Naseer Shamma is among the world’s foremost players and teachers of the oud. Born in Kut, Iraq, he trained at the Music Academy in Baghdad with Iraqi grand master Munir Bashir, graduating in 1987, and subsequently completed a PhD in music philosophy. From 1993 to 1998 he taught at the Conservatory in Tunis, before founding the Arab Oud House in Cairo, a school dedicated entirely to his instrument. Other schools have since opened in Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Baghdad, and Mosul. He has performed around the world with musicians from a wide range of artistic backgrounds, and in many of his projects combines traditions and instruments of classical Arabic music with those of Western music. Honored with more than 70 Iraqi and international awards, he received the Gusi Peace Prize in 2012, and in 2017 was named a UNESCO Artist for Peace for his humanitarian activities. He has been closely associated with the Pierre Boulez Saal since its inception.

November 2026

Born in Crete in 1982, Giorgos Manolakis began playing the laouto and bouzouki at age eight under the guidance of his father, the celebrated laouto master Kostas Manolakis, and today is widely considered one of the leading players of his instruments. He has collaborated with major artists including Ross Daly, Cretan group Hainides, and vocalist Psarantonis, performing at major European and international music festivals. He leads several ensembles, such as the Couleur Locale trio, which blends traditional Cretan music with modal traditions, rembetiko, and contemporary improvisation, and teaches masterclasses in laouto technique around the world.

November 2026

Carlos Piñana was born in 1976, the son of a family of renowned flamenco artists, and received his first guitar lessons from his father Antonio Piñana. At the age of 14, he began his studies as a classical guitarist at the conservatory of his hometown, Cartagena, while also exploring flamenco music. He later earned degrees from the Conservatorio Superior de Música and the University of Murcia. His awards include first prizes at the Cante de las Minas Festival and the Ramon Montaya Prize for Concert Guitar at the Concurso Nacional de Arte Flamenco de Córdoba. Concerts have taken him across Europe, to New York, Tehran, Cairo, Casablanca, Moscow, and Tunis, among many other cities. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras such as the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Región de Murcia, the Lublin Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Orquesta de Cámara de La Habana. He has composed music for the film Desnudos by Spanish director Juan Manuel Chumilla as well as for numerous ballet and theater productions and released eight solo albums to date, including Palosanto (2001) and Body & Soul (2013). He has been a professor at the Murcia Conservatory since 2018. At the Pierre Boulez Saal, Carlos Piñana has performed multiple times alongside Naseer Shamma, at the Arabic Music Days, and most recently last spring as part of The Journey of Instruments concert series.

November 2026

Zied Zouari is a Tunisian violinist and composer working with traditional Arab-Andalusian maqamat and contemporary Mediterranean soundscapes. He began playing the violin at an early age and later studied Arabic and Western violin at the National Conservatory of Music in Tunis. His style bridges Middle Eastern microtonal ornamentation with Western classical discipline, jazz improvisation, and North African folk rhythms. Since relocating to France, he has become an active figure on the European world music scene, collaborating with many international artists, theater productions, and cross-cultural ensembles across the Mediterranean. In addition to his work as a soloist and session musician, he leads his own musical projects and regularly performs at major international festivals.

November 2026

Farah Fersi is a Tunisian qanun player and composer. Shaped by a culturally diverse background, she has developed a distinctive ten-finger technique and an innovative approach to expand her instrument’s expressive boundaries. In her original compositions and arrangements, she bridges Arab heritage, jazz, and world music. Concerts as a soloist and with different ensembles have taken her to prestigious venues including the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Her album REVA – The Living Memory was released this past summer.

November 2026

Derya Türkan, born in Istanbul in 1973, is a leading performer on the kemençe, the classical Turkish lyra. He studied at the İTÜ Turkish Music State Conservatory under masters such as İhsan Özgen and is renowned for bridging classical Ottoman music with new traditions in contemporary world music. He has performed at prestigious concert halls around the world, both as a soloist and as a member of the Kudsi Ergüner Ensemble and the group İncesaz, which he co-founded. His collaborators include artist such as Jordi Savall, Renaud Garcia-Fons, and Kudsi Ergüner. In addition to releasing acclaimed albums like Anka and Letter from Istanbul, he regularly gives masterclasses worldwide, sharing Turkey’s lyra tradition with global audiences. He returns to the Pierre Boulez Saal in February 2027 for a duo recital with Palestinian oud player Bakr Khleifi.

November 2026

Born in Damascus in 1994, Yazan Alsabbagh is a Syrian-German clarinetist and composer known for blending traditional Middle Eastern music with contemporary Western genres. He studied classical clarinet and Arabic music theory (maqam) at the High Institute of Music in his hometown, performing as guest musician with the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra several times, before relocating to Europe and graduating from the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin. He also completed a degree in sound engineering at Hofa Online College. He is a member of the Ramal Ensemble, which made its debut at the Pierre Boulez Saal in 2024, and has performed with prominent international orchestras, chamber ensembles, and traditional groups across major venues and festivals in Europe and the Middle East, including Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie and Stuttgart’s Jazz Open. He first collaborated with Naseer Shamma as part of The Journey of Instruments concert series in the Pierre Boulez Saal’s 2025–26 season.

November 2026

Hussein Zahawy was born in 1980 in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan. He started playing daf in his childhood and at the age of ten moved to the UK with his family, were he later received a degree in ethnomusicology from the University of London. His playing combines elements from Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic, Persian, and Indian music as well as jazz. He released his debut solo album, One Word, in 2008 and can also be heard on the soundtrack of Ridley Scott’s film Kingdom of Heaven. He has collaborated with artists such as Sami Yusuf, Kadim al-Saher, and Shahram Nazeri, and in 2013 co-founded the project Nishtiman (Kurdish for “home”), an ensemble that unites Kurdish musicians from Iraq, Iran, Türkyie, and other countries to promote Kurdish cultural heritage on international stages.

November 2026

Born in Rio de Janeiro, percussionist Jorge Bezerra received his early musical training through sacred Afro-Brazilian Candomblé ceremonies. After performing with his group Lemy Ayó, he founded the Afro-Cuban band Orunmila in 1995. Specializing in traditional Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian hand drums, including atabaques, batá, congas, and berimbau, he relocated to Paris in 1998, establishing himself as a sought-after musician across Europe. He has performed alongside international jazz, world, and pop artists such as Jow Zawinul, Carlos Santana, Michel Portal, and Djavan. Blending traditional Afro-diasporic percussion with modern jazz fusion, he continues to perform at music festivals globally and lead masterclasses in percussion technique.

November 2026