ABOUT ALI AMR:

Palestinian qanun virtuoso Ali Amr was born in 1991 in Morocco and moved to Ramallah, Palestine at the age of 6. At the age of 7, he began to play the qanun.

Amr is a three-time first prize winner for best Arabic Music performer in the Marcel Khalife Music Competition (2005, 2007, 2008), and has performed frequently at various cultural sites in cities in and around Palestine, including the Cultural Palace, the Friends Boys School (Ramallah), the Hakawati Theater (Jerusalem), and the Tombs of the Kings (Jerusalem). Playing qanun and singing, he has appeared with Maqamat, the conservatory’s performing ensemble, and Yalalan, an independent, privately-formed music ensemble.

Internationally, Amr has performed with Maqamat in Sweden, Norway, Dubai, Germany, Holland, and the United States. In 2002, he was invited to Simon Shaheen’s Arabic Music Retreat in Massachusetts. In 2006, he completed a three-month tour of the United States with ensembles from his school, performing at the United Nations in New York, before an audience of 40,000 at San Antonio’s Alamodome, and at Universities, theaters, high schools, churches, and hospitals in 13 states. His most recent appearances include the 23rd Annual Folk Festival at the Berklee Performance Center and the 1st Annual Middle Eastern Festival at Berklee College of Music with Bassam Saba and the Berklee Middle Eastern Ensemble. In 2007, Amr performed for the President of Palestine and the Princess of Jordan.

Amr is currently studying at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Proceeds of this concert wil go towards his tuition.

(Presented by Salam Arabic Lutheran Church; co-sponsored by Alwan for the Arts, The Arab-American Assocation, The Arab-American Family Support Center, The Arab-Muslim American Federation, the Dialogue Project, Pharmacy on Fifth and T-SCAN.)