Photo by Maria Baranova
“The celebrated trumpeter and composer Amir ElSaffar explores vital connections between jazz and Arabic music...” - The New York Times
Composer, trumpeter, santur player, and vocalist Amir ElSaffar creates music at the intersection of Jazz, Western Classical, Iraqi Maqam, and Electro-Acoustic improvised music.
Latest News
Dhikra for Two Rivers, Hamid Al-Saadi, and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra
The reviews from the July 25, 2023 premiere at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall are in!
"A glorious sense of collective blooming."
New York Times
“A satisfying new fusion”
Financial Times
“the listener’s interest was revived, section by section, by ElSaffar’s ingenuity in tone-mixing of Western and Middle Eastern instruments…the piece’s super-pianissimo ending was followed by enthusiastic, prolonged applause."
NY Classical Review
" [as] ambitious artistically as it is durationally…as convincing an execution of the integration of different musical worlds as I’ve heard, and it managed to pack an emotional wallop by the end."
Bachtrack
New Albums coming out in 2024!
Amir ElSaffar will release two albums in fall, 2024: “Live at the Boulez Saal” with Greek pianist Tania Giannouli, and longtime collaborators, drummer Tomas Fujiwara, and Ole Mathisen; and “Inner Spaces” a duo project with Paris-based electronics artist, Lorenzo Bianchi-Hoesch. Stay tuned for more on these releases!
The Maqam Project
ElSaffar is currently building for an organization, performance space, and archive for the preservation, teaching, and continuation of Arabic Classical Music, in particular the Iraqi Maqam. Stay tuned for program announcements!
Maqam Opera in Arabic
“Ruins of the Encampment,” a Maqam Opera in Arabic, is currently in development, with support from Opera America’s IDEA Residency.
In E half-flat world premiere at Ragas Live Festival at Pioneer Works
ElSaffar’s latest composition, In E half-flat, based on Terry Riley’s seminal work, In C, was composed and premiered with Riley’s blessing. The work will be performed in New York in summer, 2024 - stay tuned for announcements!
ElSaffar plays solo improvised trumpet at the Metropolitan Opera
ElSaffar has been chosen by composer Anthony Davis to play the solo improvised trumpet part in the Met’s production of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X for its run of performances in November, 2023. Check it out here: https://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/