Joseph Tawadros Plays Final Shows Of 6-State Oz Tour

Joseph Tawadros AM, 4 times ARIA awarded composer and oud virtuoso is on the final stretch of a tour promoting his new album The Bluebird the Mystic & the Fool. Rave reviews of the album and live concerts have brought audiences flocking to the shows, responding with enthusiastic clamouring for repeated encores and standing ovations in each venue.

Joseph's performance on the oud - a middle eastern lute - is as captivating in solo mode as it is with his jazz group or with an orchestra. It's always Joseph's charismatic presence and gobsmacking musicianship that propels each show to the great heights described by reviewers, quoted below.

After the Australian tour Joseph returns to London where on July 30 he will be the first ever solo world-music artist playing original compositions for a BBC Proms concert . This is a great honour and an incredible career achievement. This is something Joseph and his family would never have imagined when he first played the oud as a young Egyptian immigrant at Redfern Primary School, in Sydney's inner suburbs, 25 years ago.

Performing Arts Hub, 2017 "Never less than electrifying and always entertaining, given Joseph's wild sense of humour and ability to laugh at many taboos, this was a sensational concert..."

Sydney Morning Herald, 4.5 star concert review May 2018 "There's also the player who makes the instrument spit and fizz on faster improvisations and the collaborator who delights in interaction and his band-mates' contributions. Finally there is the natural clown who can't help but pile anecdote on funny anecdote between songs..." John Shand

The Australian newspaper, 5 star album review May 2018: "An inspired set that seamlessly combines Middle Eastern modalities with classical and contemporary jazz elements ... full of light and shade, redolent with reflective lulls and thrilling rocklike peaks. the standard of composing and arranging are of such high order on this magnificent album." Tony Hillier

At 34, Joseph Tawadros is established as one of the world's leading oud performers and composers. A virtuoso of diversity and sensitivity, Joseph performs in concert halls worldwide and is known for his brilliant technique, deep musicianship and joyous style of performance.

His drive to push musical boundaries has led to many collaborations with significant performers and a solid repertoire of innovative, original music. He has recorded 14 albums - Storyteller, Rouhani, Visions, Epiphany, Angel, The Prophet: Music Inspired by the Poetry of Kahlil Gibran, The Hour of Separation, Band of Brothers, Concerto of the Greater Sea, Chameleons of the White Shadow, Permission to Evaporate, Truth Seekers, Lovers and Warriors, World Music, Live At Abbey Road and The Bluebird, the Mystic and the Fool. Joseph has received 12 nominations and achieved four ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Awards - in 2012, 2013 and 2014 for Best World Music Album - and as a contributor to the Ali's Wedding soundtrack album in 2017.

Joseph's 2018 album, released in April, is The Bluebird, The Mystic and The Fool.

Born in Cairo, and a resident of Sydney since he was 3 years old, Joseph was nominated for Young Australian of the Year in 2014, received the NSW Premier's medal for Arts and Culture in the same year and was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (AM) for his services to music and composition in 2016.

Joseph is acknowledged for expanding the oud's notoriety in mainstream western culture and has also been recognised in the Arab world, appearing on the judging panel of the Damascus International Oud competition in 2009, and taking part in Istanbul's first Oud festival in 2010.

He has toured extensively, headlining in Europe, America, Asia and the Middle East, and has collaborated with celebrated artists such as Zakir Hussain, Sultan Khan, Béla Fleck, John Abercrombie, John Patitucci, Jack DeJohnette, Richard Bona, Roy Ayers, Joey DeFrancesco, Howard Johnson, Jean Louis Matinier, Ivry Gitlis, Camerata Salzburg, Christian Lindberg, Neil Finn, The Grigoryan Brothers, Kate Miller-Heidke and Katie Noonan. He has performed and recorded with Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and the Academy of Ancient Music in London, making him the first and only Australian composer whose music has been performed by this prestigious orchestra. He has regularly performed with the Sydney, Adelaide and West Australian Symphony orchestras.

Joseph is currently based in London, UK but travels often to perform including Australian tours each year. Highlights in 2017 include performing his own works with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms in Dubai and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's premiere Joseph's Concerto for Oud & Orchestra. He finished the year touring with the acclaimed violinist, Valeriy Sokolov, and the Morphing Chamber Orchestra in Europe and the Ukraine National Chamber Orchestra in Kyiv.

In 2018 Joseph performs in Australia and Japan with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and his own band then returns to London for a solo oud recital for the BBC Proms. Joseph is the first world music artist to present a solo concert of original contemporary music for the Proms.

In 2019 Joseph will present his Concerto for Oud & Orchestra with Sydney Symphony Orchestra and other orchestras.

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