Artistic and Professional Experience

• Composer and oudist. I received my first oud lessons at the age of nine. In 2001, I graduated from the Arabic Oud House in Egypt, worked in it as a teacher from 2001 to 2003, then joined the Egyptian Opera House in 2002. I worked later as a teacher in Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

• Wrote my own musical compositions that were created specifically for the oud instrument, with a repertoire of albums: “layali al-sham”, “beit fi hara” and “zaffet el-aroussa” to name a few.

• Composed many soundtracks for successful series and television programs. I participated in many specialized local and international fairs, including the “Festival of the Arab World Institute” in Paris, the “International Competition” in Beirut, “Tatouan Festival” and “Asilah Festival” in Morocco and the Orient – Occident Festival” in Switzerland.

• Considered the oud as my lifelong companion, as I was inspired by some of the greatest musicians of the Arab World, namely “Farid Al-Atrash” and “Marcel Khalife”

• My instructors were among the elite oudists, i.e. Mahmoud Al-Kurdi, Composer and Oudist from Syria, Ammar Hammoud, Oudist from the UAE and Nosseir Shamma, Composer and Oudist from Iraq.

Oud Duet

• The Syrian artist Ghassan Al-Yousif and his Egyptian wife Dina Abdel Hamid are the first duet to introduce an oud duet performance in the Arab world.

• The Oud Duet participated in many specialized international festivals, including the Oud Festival in Tetouan (Morocco), Istanbul Music Conservatory (Turkey) and the International Oud Festival that was held under the auspices of the Egyptian Opera House. The duet held many successful concerts in various cultural places in Egypt. The Oud Duet performance was acclaimed by critics and musical fans alike and it showcases a large collection of distinguished work on the oud instrument.

• The Oud Duet, accompanied by their band of 20 musicians, participated in many artistic concerts in different cultural centers.

• The Oud Duet members are instructors at the Egyptian Opera House since 2016 to the present day, in both Cairo and Damanhour branches and they have many students who love the Oud instrument

• The Oud Duet has established an Oud class at the Arab Music Institute, the Talent Development Center of the Egyptian Opera House, since 2016 till now.

• The duet participated in the Arab Music Festival in 2016.

• It performed in Kuwait Festival of 2016, same year when Kuwait was selected as the Capital of Islamic culture.

• It also participated in the Oud Festival in Tetouan, Morocco, 2010.

• The duet performed in Turkey upon invitation from Istanbul Technical University Turkish Music Conservatory, in 2010.

• It also participated in Jabal Amman’s Oud Day in Jordan.

• It was hosted by various television programs.

• I wrote several musical compositions such as (Rahhalat as-salam), (Haret al zaafarani), (Beit fi hara) and (Layali al-sham).