Bassem Alkhouri,
Qanun

Bassem Alkhouri is born on the 14th of November 1976 in Damascus, Syria. He graduated from the Conservatory in Damascus in 2000 as a specialist in Qanun. Almera Achandova was his Qanun teacher. In 2001 he won the second prize for playing Qanun at the International Music Competition in Algeria.

In May 2006 he graduated at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, as a solosinger. He studied with Manon Heijnen and now his teachers are Barbara Pearson and Diane Forlano. In June 2007 he graduated from the Dutch Opera Academy in Amsterdam. During this master in opera singing he sang in the main productions they realized: Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi by G. Puccini, Snout and the wall in A Midsummer night’s Dream by B. Britten, Basilio in Le Nozze di Figaro by W.A. Mozart and for his exam he sang Don José in Carmen by G. Bizet.

Bassem performed as a soloist with his Qanun in many concerts with the National Syrian Symphony Orchestra. He gave concerts in Syria, Iraq and Kuwait. He also took part in International concerts in Lebanon, Egypt, France, Morocco, Tunisia and Holland. In 2002 he participated solo and as a choir singer with the theatre company ZT Hollandia performing in several European countries.

Since 2003 he is playing with the New Ensemble and the Atlas Ensemble in Amsterdam conducted by Ed Spanjaard, performing contemporary music special written for Qanun . He is also a member of the Ziggurat Ensemble by Theo Loevendie, a Dutch composer. They give concerts in Holland and they played also in Russia, England and Finland.

He sang and played in productions of the Nederlands Vocaal Laboratorium. He performed the solo part in Mozart’s Requiem and the Beethoven’s Fantasia at the special opening of the National Opera House of Damascus, Syria. He participated in two contemporary opera’s: “Rachab de hoer” by De Ruyter and “Layla and Majnun” by Rokus de Groot. Both world premières in Holland.