Born in Damascus, Syria, Kinan Azmeh is in the rare position to use his music as a truly unifying language. Hailed as a “Virtuoso” and “Intensely Soulful” by the New York Times and “Spellbinding” by the New Yorker, Mr. Azmeh has more than just technical talent. His utterly distinctive sound across different musical genres has gained him international recognition as clarinetist and composer. He has appeared as soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra,the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the Qatar Philharmonic and the Syrian Symphony Orchestra, among others, and has shared the stage with Yo-Yo Ma, Marcel Khalife, Aynur, Daniel Barenboim and Jivan Gasparian. Most notably, he is also a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble with whom he was awarded a Grammy in 2017. The Silk Road organization “creates a more hopeful world through music, radical cultural collaboration, and passion-driven learning.”