Joseph Tawadros Announces Shows at Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Recital Center, and More

4 times ARIA Award winning Oud virtuoso and composer Joseph Tawadros will be back in Australia for a month of concerts. Joseph's extraordinary Concerto for Oud & Orchestra will be presented at Sydney Opera House with Sydney Symphony Orchestra for 3 nights.

Originally commissioned by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, these are the first performances of the Concerto for Oud & Orchestra since the 2017 premiere. With orchestration by Sydney composer and arranger, Jessica Wells, the concerto is a brilliant vehicle for Joseph's technical abilities as a writer and player. Yet the piece's most striking features are that it is emotionally engaging, exquisitely beautiful and full of robust energy.

"I wanted it to be modern while paying homage to its traditions. I want it to be another bridge between Western Classical Music and Eastern Music, with a classical concerto framework."

"There are three movements, and the concerto is primarily in the Arabic mode called 'Nawa Athar' which is like a C Harmonic minor scale but with a raised 4th. This is a Middle Eastern sound, but the scale gives flexibility to change on other scales also from the tonic of C." -Joseph Tawadros, notes for Concerto for Oud & Orchestra

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JOSEPH TAWADROS
Concerts in Australia - June, July 2018

Woodend Winter Arts Fest 8 June solo

Blue Mountains Theatre 14 June band

Sydney Opera House 20, 21, 22 June
w James Tawadros & Sydney Symphony

Canberra Street Theatre 30 June band

Melbourne Recital Centre 4 July band

Darwin Entertainment Centre 5 July duo

Joseph Tawadros AM is a multi- award-winning virtuoso player of the Oud, a Middle Eastern lute. Joseph's music has brought middle eastern, classical and contemporary jazz together seamlessly and he is considered by peers and music critics to be a truly original performer and an innovative composer.

On stage Joseph is more than just a brilliant musician: He is an engaging and articulate storyteller with quick humour and astute observations. His charismatic style brings another dimension to the performance.

Born in Cairo in 1983 and brought up on Sydney, Joseph brings a musical tradition inherited from his grandfather, Mansi Habib, a composer who played oud and violin, and his uncle, Yacoub Mansi Habib, a fine Egyptian trumpet player.

Joseph has recorded 14 albums of original music, with 14 ARIA nominations and won 4 ARIA Awards for Best World Music Album and Best Soundtrack Album. His most recent album The Bluebird, the Mystic & the Fool was released in 2018.

Joseph performs as a soloist, or with his brother (virtuoso Egyptian percussionist James Tawadros) with his jazz group and a range of orchestras and other collaborators.