Tamer Al-Sahouri, oud player and Cristina Awad, singer

Palestinian Musicians from the West Bank

Tamer Al-Sahouri is a 25-year-old Oud player from Beit Sahour, east of Bethlehem.  He began studying music at a very early age and currently teaches the Oud at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Palestine.  He is also the founder and leader of the Bethlehem University band, Wajd Musical group, and has performed in many countries throughout Europe, the Middle East and North and South America.

 Cristina Awad is a 20-year-old singer from Beit Sahour.  She graduated from Lutheran High School and has a diploma in Tourism from Bethlehem University.  She is also a member of Diyar, a Palestinian folk dancing (Dabkeh) group that has toured and represented Palestine throughout Europe and the Middle East.

 Students from the Berklee School of Music

Naseem Atrash, cellist, and Moez Dawad, drummer

Naseem Atrash, 21, is a 3^rd year student at Berklee College of Music in Boston studying Cello Performance on a full Presidential Scholarship. He took his first cello lesson at age 12 at the Edward Said National Conservatory in Bethlehem and, at age 15, toured with the Palestinian Youth Orchestra as principal cellist. Mr. Atrash won first prize at the national Marcel Khalife Music Competition in both 2006 and 2008 and, after graduating from high school, studied at the Luebeck Conservatory of Music in Germany and attended workshops in Palestine, Germany and at the Royal Academy of Music in London.  Recently, he became a member of the Palestinian National Orchestra and was selected to participate in the Aldeburgh World Orchestra Tour during the summer of 2012. The Orchestra was conducted by Sir Mark Elder and performed in such major venues as Royal Albert Hall in London, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Audi Festival in Ingolstadt, Germany.

 Moez Dawad began his journey as a musician and percussionist learning to play the doumbek, a middle eastern drum, in the streets of Egypt.  He gave his first concert at the age of 6 and has since performed at the Olympics in Beijing, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and at Symphony Hall in Boston.  In 2009, he was admitted and received a scholarship to Berklee College of Music.  Mr. Dawad excels at combining different styles and influences from world music, bringing the west and east together.