The Boston Palestine Film Festival is thrilled to announce that three gifted, worldclass Palestinian and Arab musicians who will perform at our Opening Night After Party at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston:
TAREQ RANTISI, percussionist, was born in Jerusalem. He received an Al-Qattan Foundation Music Scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music, graduating with highest honors with a degree in Percussion Performance in 2012.
Since arriving in the US in 2008, Rantisi has performed with some of the biggest names in modern music, including Jack deJohnette, Steve Smith, Paul Winter, Simon Shaheen, Aaron Goldberg, Srinivas Krishnan, Victor Mendoza, Husnu Senlendi Rici, Eguie Castrillo, Bertram Lehmann, Billy Drewes, Basam Saba, Mehmet Ali Sanlikol, Daniel Schnyder Bruno Råberg, Javier Limón, Pepe de Lucía, Glen Velez, Rima Khcheich, Ali Abdul Sattar, Sonia Mbarek, Charbel Rouhana and many other virtuosic musicians, composers, and groups.
Alongside his musical performing career, Rantisi has developed a body of educational work, offering master classes, workshops, and private lessons throughout the world in collaboration with Boston College, Brandeis University, The Center for Arabic Culture, NAFDA, The Arabic Music Retreat, The Gaza Music School, Qattan Foundation, and more.
LAYTH SIDIQ is a leading Middle-Eastern violinist on the world music stage. Born in Iraq and raised in Jordan, Sidiq picked up the violin at the age of four and started his musical training at the National Music Conservatory with Timur Ibrahmiov, and later at the Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, U.K.
Upon graduation, Sidiq moved to Boston to pursue his college education at Berklee College of Music where he received a full-tuition scholarship and graduated with a bachelor degree and recently obtained his masters degree from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute where he was mentored by artists such as Danilo Perez, John Patitucci, Terri Lyne Carrington, Joe Lovano and Marco Pignataro.
During his career, Sidiq had the honor of performing all around the world as well as working with many acclaimed artists, including Simon Shaheen, Jack Dejohnette, Jose Merce, Shankar Mahadevan, Javier Limon, Gary Burton and A.R Rahman, to name a few. He has also recorded on Latin Grammy nominated albums and performed both as a leader and as a sideman in venues like the Boston Symphony Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Concertgebouw Hall, the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Festival Hall, as well as the Abu Dhabi Festival, the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival and premiered his original compositions at the Montreal Jazz Festival.
Sidiq is now based in Boston where he currently directs the Arab Music Ensemble at Tufts University as well as being a sought-after violinist and composer in the U.S. and abroad.
FIRAS ZREIK is a Palestinian qanun (lap harp) player and composer. He was born in Haifa in 1995 to a musical family and raised in Kufr Yasif.
Zreik started playing qanun and studying Arabic music at Beit al-Musica Conservatory in Shafa-Amr, Israel at the age of 11. Before that, he played cello for 3 years and studied western classical music.
Zreik started touring with the musician Amal Murkus within and outside Europe, recording and composing songs for her and serving as an essential part of her band.
Currently he’s studying at Berklee College of Music in Boston on a full scholarship, double-majoring in jazz composition and performance.
Beside his own musical projects, Zreik has performed with many great artists, such as Roger Waters, Shreya Goshal, Shankar Mahadevan, Simon Shaheen, Aynur Dogan, Amir Saffar, and more.
Zreik has also performed in some of the most prestigious venues in Europe and the US including Lincoln Center- NYC, Boston Symphony Hall, Institut du Monde Arabe – Paris , Palais des Congrès – Namur, La Bellevilloise – Paris, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Teatro Mediterraneo – Napoli, and many more.
Tickets: $20
Entrance to the Opening Night After Party is included with the purchase of a ticket to the Opening Film, The Reports on Sarah and Saleem, by Muayad Alayan. Screens Friday, October 19, 2018 at 7p at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Remis Auditorium.