Julian Kuerti, Music Director
With a strong international reputation for his interpretations of both orchestral and operatic music, Canadian conductor Julian Kuerti combines a confident style, artistic integrity, and passion for collaboration bringing him to the forefront of the music scene. Kuerti has led major symphony orchestras and has appeared in renowned opera houses and concert halls on five continents, and enjoys close working relationships with many of the leading soloists and singers of today.
In 2018, Kuerti was named Music Director of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Arturo Ziraldo, Viola
American violist Arturo Ziraldo is an engaging performer who believes deeply in the power of art to change the world for the better. Ziraldo has performed across North America, Europe, and Asia as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral leader. He has performed with orchestras such as the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Seattle Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Orquesta Filarmonica de Jalisco, and the Mainzer Virtuosi with whom he recorded Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and Piazzolla's The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires as principal violist.
Ziraldo currently serves as principal violist for the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra.
Living Voices | Composer Sami Seif
Sami Seif (b. 1998) is a Lebanese composer and music theorist praised as “a distinctive compositional voice” who creates “intoxicating and fascinating soundworld[s]” (Carla Rees, Pan Journal of the British Flute Society). His music is inspired by the aesthetics, philosophies, paradigms, and poetry of his Middle Eastern heritage. His work has been described as “very tasteful and flavorful” with “beautiful, sensitive writing!” (Webster University Young Composers Competition). His latest musical concerns center around the phenomenology of time and differing degrees of focus.
