amir elsaffAR NEW QUARTET

Described as “the celebrated trumpeter and composer who explores vital connections between jazz and Arabic music” (New York Times), Amir ElSaffar is an Iraqi-American composer, trumpeter, santur player, vocalist, and modular synthesist working at the intersections of jazz, Western classical, and Maqam music of Iraq and the Middle East. He is best known for his pioneering work combining jazz and Maqam, mainly through his Two Rivers sextet and 17-piece Rivers of Sound Orchestra. 

As a jazz trumpeter, he has performed in the ensembles of Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, Anthony Davis, Danilo Perez, William Parker, and Vijay Iyer, among others. He is also a renowned Iraqi santur player fluent in the millennia old and nearly extinct Iraqi Maqam, and is musical director of the last living vocalist of the genre, Hamid Al-Saadi. As a composer and musical director, ElSaffar has created works for symphony orchestras, string quartets, chamber ensembles, jazz ensembles, Middle Eastern music ensembles, as well as hybrid projects with Raga, Flamenco, and Sub-Saharan African trance music. His works have been commissioned and performed in major festivals and venues around the world. He is now working on an Arabic-language Maqam opera.