Taiseer Elias - Oud and Violin

A master of both Eastern and Western music, oud and violin artist Taiseer Elias is in demand for concerts and recitals, participating in international conferences and conducting workshops and master-classes in Middle Eastern music theory and practice in prestigious concert halls and universities in Israel, Europe and America.

He is the founder/conductor of the first orchestra of classical Arabic Music in Israel and a founding member of the international “Oud Festival” in Jerusalem, and opens it each year with a world premier. He has performed works by Vivaldi, Bach and Paganini on the ‘oud with the Haifa Orchestra as well as works specially written for him by contemporary American and Israeli composers, most notably Menachem Wiesenberg, Michael Wolpe, Joel Hoffman and Miriam Gerberg. He has made many recordings and has composed music for theatre and films.

Taiseer Elias has collaborated with many internationally acclaimed musicians including Paco De Lucia, Izaac Stern, Ravi Shankar, Tabea Zimmermann, Wadi’e al-Safi, Munir Bashir, David Geringas, Mohammad al- Mugi, Ross Daly and Yanos Starker. In 2002 Elias performed in the “Olympic Stadium” in Barcelona for 50,000 people which was broadcast all over the world; and in 2004 he performed in the French Senate under the auspices of its President, Mr. Christian Poncelet.

Among his other activities Prof. Elias was musical director of several programs for the Israeli Television network, director of Arabic music programming for the Voice of Israel Radio and serves on various artistic committees including Art for People, The Rabinovitch Foundation, The Abraham Foundation, the head of the Music Committee in “Ommanout L’aam”.

Due to his extraordinary achievements, Prof. Taiseer Elias was included in the 21st edition of the "Who's Who in the World", and in the "2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century". In addition he was selected as "The Man of the Year-2004" by the "American Biographical Centre" (ABI).

Elias is the head of the Arabic Music Department at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance; a Professor in the Musicology Department at Bar Ilan University; the director of Arab music education in the Education Ministry in Israel.

The leading figure in classical Arabic music in Israel, Prof. Elias is considered by critics, both in Israel and abroad, to be the one of the most impressive and moving musician to emerge from the Arab world in recent years. ‘As an oud and violin player he stands head and shoulders above other musicians both in Israel and abroad’ says Professor Dalia Cohen, Chairman, Department of Musicology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.