BIOGRAPHIES

Joseph Tawadros

Oud

Despite being just 32, Joseph Tawadros has already achieved great success. His three recent albums, Permission to Evaporate, Chameleons of the White Shadows and Concerto of the Greater Sea took out ARIAs for Best World Music Album. Every single one of his albums has been nominated for ARIA recognition. He blends and blurs musical tradition while crossing genres and the end result is magical. He has recorded, composed for and performed with many of the biggest international jazz and classical artists. Joseph continues to create modern platforms for one of the world’s oldest instruments, remaining true to its soul while pairing it with unlikely accents.

Joseph is the recipient of an Order of Australia 2016, winner of the 2014 NSW Premier’s Multicultural Award for Arts and Culture, and finalist for Young Australian of the Year in 2013. He has been named as one of Sydney’s Top 20 Most Influential. The youngest recipient of the very prestigious Freedman Fellowship for Classical Music (2006), Joseph is the only oud player to play a seven-string oud, an achievement celebrated through the Joseph Tawadros Signature Series Oud created by Master Oud Maker Luthier Veysel Sarikus.

Joseph is a powerful example of the Australian migration story. His parents, Nabil and Rose, chose to adopt Australia as their home in 1986 when Joseph was just 2, leaving behind a life in turbulent Egypt. His personal story is multi-faceted – a musical game changer who blurs boundaries; a migrant success story founded on breathtaking talent and a larrikin sense of humour.

Joseph has toured extensively headlining in Europe, America, Asia and the Middle East and has collaborated with artists such as tabla master Zakir Hussain, sarangi master Sultan Khan, Banjo maestro Bela Fleck, John Abercrombie, Jack DeJohnette, Christian McBride, Mike Stern, Richard Bona, Ivry Gitlis, Neil Finn and Katie Noonan. He has also had guest appearances with the Sydney, Adelaide and Perth Symphony Orchestras.

Joseph is also recognised for his mastery of the instrument in the Arab world. He has been invited to adjudicate the Damascus International Oud Competition in 2009, to perform at Istanbul’s inaugural Oud Festival in 2010 and at the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris in 2013.

2015 saw a national tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, as well as performances at Melbourne Recital Centre, Elder Hall (Adelaide) and the highly anticipated release of his twelfth album, Truth Seekers, Lovers and Warriors for ABC Classics. Joseph has also done several European tours, touring with Richard Tognetti and the Academy of Ancient Music to Maribor Festival (Slovenia). This year, Joseph performs at Museum of Old and New Art, Perth International Arts Festival, National Folk Festival (Canberra), Canberra International Music Festival, Melbourne Recital Centre and Riverside Theatres.

For more information about Joseph
please visit josephtawadros.com

James Tawadros

Req and Bendir

At only 26 years of age, James Tawadros has already made a name for himself as a world-class percussionist and soloist. His main instrument is the req, a small hand-held tambourine, traditionally with skin covering and five pairs of cymbals.

It is James’ unique innovative style and mastery of the req that has brought him great acclaim worldwide. His dexterity, rhythmic variety and virtuosity continue to amaze audiences. He has performed internationally with many celebrated artists and regularly accompanies his brother Joseph in concert. Some of his career highlights as soloist include orchestral tours with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Camerata Salzburg, as well as a duet recording collaboration with legendary jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette (of Miles Davis fame) for the album The Hour of Separation which also featured jazz luminaries John Abercrombie and John Patitucci.

In 2004, at just 15 years of age, James featured as youngest ever guest soloist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and in 2006 took part in their national tour The Travellers, featuring the Tawadros brothers. He has performed with greats such as Béla Fleck, Richard Bona, Joey DeFrancesco, and Roy Ayers, to name a few. With his brother Joseph, he has also won three ARIA Awards for Best World Music Album in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Matt McMahon

Piano

Matt McMahon is one of Australia’s finest jazz pianists and composers. He has won many awards such the National Jazz Award in 1999 and The Freedman Fellowship in 2005. Matt has performed with many of Australia’s jazz icons including Dale Barlow, Greg Osby, James Morrison, Don Burrows, Phil Slater, Katie Noonan, Vince Jones, Bobby Previte, Dave Panichi, Jazzfolk and Guy Strazz. He has led his own groups such as the Matt McMahon Trio and is involved in the collaborative group The Band of Five Names. Founder of the Jazzgroove Association, he is also actively involved in the jazz community as a broadcaster and currently teaches at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, while continuing to tour both nationally and internationally.

Beginning classical piano lessons at the age of 7, it wasn’t until his teens that his interest in jazz began. Matt completed a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney in 1992 with an honours degree in English Literature and later completed an Associate Diploma in Jazz Studies from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Karl Dunnicliff

Bass

Since graduating from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he studied with world acclaimed bassist Craig Scott, Karl has been in high demand as a double and electric bass player. Over the years he has also studied with Rufus Reid, Andrew Dickeson, Judy Bailey and Mike Nock.

In 2008 he was selected as a finalist in the National Jazz Awards for double bass at Wangaratta, one of the largest annual jazz festivals in Australia and he regularly supports some of Australia’s best known musicians including James Morrison and Dale Barlow.

NOTE FROM JOSEPH TAWADROS

The album from which many of the works on this program are taken is Permission to Evaporate. The music covers a range of diverse voices, compounding all that I’ve learnt in my first 30 years on this planet and converting those experiences to sound – a compositional diary, if you will…I wanted to create music which was fresh, fun, non-contrived and organic, which flowed naturally, drawing upon influences of bluegrass, jazz, classical, baroque, blues, flamenco, gypsy, Middle Eastern, rock and even heavy metal music. Being careful not to hijack any of those genres, while maintaining the Oud’s strong timbral integrity and avoiding cliché.

On this album, the Oud walks down many paths and plays both a supportive role as well as a soloistic one, always serving the journey of the compositions up until its final cadence. It’s not about creating sad music, but about covering a wide range of emotions in truth and intention.

I think of my parents, and my brothers and sister. I think of the world. I think of innocence, of friends and others who have lost loved ones. I think of an embrace, a simple gesture of kindness, a comforting kiss. The stars, the moon, the sun, the changing of the seasons running hand in hand with compassion and love.

It is perhaps a type of melancholy drunk in celebration, but there is also victory here. Life will inevitably keep throwing the unexpected and we must never give up and continue to persevere, albeit with wound in heart, but with hope always
in hand. We are healing...