We are kicking off our UMS Digital Residency with a pair of listening parties featuring our collaborator, Tarek Yamani! This ongoing project lives at the intersection of jazz, traditional Arab music, and Western classical string quartet, culminating in a concert-length work written by Tarek.

As we begin this collaboration, we wanted to invite you inside the process of how musicians from divergent backgrounds and musical practices immerse themselves in each others’ worlds to discover the collisions and parallels that will inspire their work together. For this second night, Tarek presents a playlist highlighting music in and around the Arab Peninsula, sharing music that both inspires him, and in some cases, provides elemental building blocks for his own, unique compositional voice.

You can sit back and simply enjoy the music, or you can add your voice to the mix as we trade impressions with Tarek and explore what elements make a string quartet piece sensational. Those of you that caught the UMS Digital Residency Kick-Off event know that Tarek is a real philosopher when it comes to music and culture…so this is going to be one riveting listening party!