Ibrahim Maalouf: the trumpeter's albums and milestones before Dubai Opera
From Diasporas to Capacity to Love and two Grammy nominations, the career of the Lebanese trumpeter joining Hiba Tawaji on 27 November.
Ibrahim Maalouf joins Hiba Tawaji at Dubai Opera on Friday 27 November. Born in Beirut on 5 November 1980, he grew up in Paris and started learning the trumpet at seven from his father, Nassim Maalouf.
He studied science until 17, until trumpet great Maurice André advised him to choose music, and he went on to the Conservatoire de Paris. Between 1999 and 2003 he won awards in 15 competitions worldwide, including first prize at the National Trumpet Competition in Washington in 2001 and at the Hungarian International Trumpet Competition in 2002.
His sound rests on the quarter-tone trumpet his father invented, which lets the instrument play Arabic maqams. His first solo album, Diasporas, came out in 2007 on his own label, and the catalogue grew quickly: Illusions (2013), Red & Black Light (2015), which reached number 8 in France, Kalthoum (2015), Dalida (2017), S3NS (2019) and Capacity to Love (2022), his 16th studio album.
Recognition followed. He won the César for best original score in 2017, and Queen of Sheba, his album with Angélique Kidjo, made him the first Lebanese instrumentalist nominated for a Grammy. A second nomination came for Todo Colores, with Cimafunk and Tank and the Bangas, in Best Global Music Performance.
UAE audiences have seen him on a big occasion before: he performed at the musical inauguration of the Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2017. That same year he played the Montreux Jazz Festival, where he caught the attention of Quincy Jones, and on 14 July 2021 he performed in front of the Eiffel Tower for a TV audience of about 6 million.
Hiba Tawaji & Ibrahim Maalouf: À La FrançaiseFri 27 Nov · Dubai Opera, Dubai See ticketsSource: Wikipedia: Ibrahim Maalouf, Platinumlist: Ibrahim Maalouf
