Virtuoso oud player Joseph Tawadros and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra embark upon an extraordinary musical journey on their new album Live at the Sydney Opera House (ABC Classic).
Joseph Tawadros’s new album Live at the Sydney Opera House is out now
Joseph Tawadros is one of Australian music’s most impressive and colourful characters – a composer, improviser and storyteller who has won four ARIA Awards over the course of his fascinating and far-reaching career. Tawadros has taken the unique sound and qualities of the oud – a Middle Eastern stringed instrument – and adapted it to the worlds of jazz, classical and beyond to create his own unique and compelling original music.
Recorded live in concert in June 2019, Live at the Sydney Opera House features the world premiere of Tawadros’s own Concerto for Oud and Orchestra, alongside orchestral arrangements of works from throughout his career. It is the first time that Tawadros has released an album with a full symphony orchestra – demonstrating both the extraordinary textures of the oud and its rich and complex interactions with the orchestra.
The result is a musical journey cinematic in scope and drama. At times meditative, at others exhilarating, Joseph Tawadros’s Live at the Sydney Opera House stands at the crossroads of East and West – of millennia-old tradition and innovation.
ABOUT JOSEPH TAWADROS
Joseph Tawadros is a multi-award-winning composer and player of the oud, a Middle Eastern lute. Currently based in London, Joseph was born in Cairo, Egypt, and grew up in Australia.
Tawadros’s music seamlessly blends middle-eastern music with classical and jazz. He is passionate about broadening his chosen instrument’s repertoire and reputation, encompassing contemporary music and “challenging perceptions – of culture, identity and, of course, the oud itself” (Bachtrack).
Tawadros has worked with a broad range of musical luminaries from many cultures and genres, collaborating with such US jazz legends as the late John Abercrombie, Christian McBride, Mike Stern, Joey DeFrancesco and Jack DeJohnette, and performing with world music practitioners including sarangi master Sultan Khan, Zakir Hussain, Béla Fleck, Ballaké Sissoko, Mamadou Diabaté, Kazue Sawai, Tinariwen, Richard Bona, Jean-Louis Matinier, Afro Moses and The Gypsy Kings.
Tawadros performs as a soloist, in small ensembles, with jazz groups and with orchestras. Recent highlights have included appearances with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Ukrainian National Orchestra, Austria’s Morphing Chamber Orchestra and the O/Modernt Quartet. His 2018 BBC Proms solo concert, with a full-house audience, drew enthusiastic attention from the UK media.
Follow Joseph Tawadros at josephtawadros.com