BIOGRAFIA

WASSIM IBRAHIM

I was born in 1978 in Damascus, Syria. In 1998 I graduated from my first university studies with a civil engineering degree and over the next seven years I participated in numerous construction projects in Syria. I started my musical adventure at the age of six, playing the flute and lute. In the years 1990-1996 I continued learning to play the Arabic lute and my teacher was Fayez Zahe Aldin. Then, in 2005, I started studies in Harmony and Counterpoint, led by prof. Bella Tagezieva at the High Institute of Music (Faculty of Theory and Composition) in Damascus. I completed these studies in 2010, during which I collaborated with many lecturers. My education was shaped by the following professors: prof. Serge Kopperanov – composition, prof. Bella Tagezieva – music theory, prof. Victor Babenko and Missak Baghboudarian (conductor of the Syrian Symphony Orchestra) – conducting.

I came to Poland in 2013 and here, in 2015, I obtained a master’s degree in composition studies at the Academy of Music in Krakow, under the supervision of prof. Józef Rychlik. In 2019, at the same institution, I obtained a PhD in music composition (major in composition), collaborating with prof. Wojciech Widłak.

In the years 2010-2013, Wassim Ibrahim began his professional academic career as a teacher at the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus, Syria, where he lectured on the history of music, conducted classes in harmony and ear training. He was a guest lecturer at the Academy of Music in Krakow – Poland, the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Viterbo University, La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA and Wisconsin University, La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA.
From 2015 to the present, he leads the amateur Choir w Kontakcie, which he founded and which in 2020 was honoured with the title of Krakow Multicultural Ambassador (2019). Since 2019, he has been running a two-year music course in Kraków at the Kontakt. Space of Movement, Dance and Music, of which Ibrahim is the author.

I started my professional composing career in 2002 by composing six songs for children, which were included on an album dedicated to the youngest. Then my songs were performed at many festivals, in various countries and concert halls around the world, including:

  • during the Warsaw Autumn International Contemporary Music Festival at the Austrian Cultural Forum in Warsaw
  • in the Krakow Philharmonic Concert Hall during the Krakow Academy of Music Festival – aXes
  • during the Syrian Culture Days at the Muth Theater in Vienna, Austria
  • at concerts at Burgtheater Kasino and Ehrbar Saal in Vienna, Austria
  • in New Jersey “All Sainta Episcopal Church” and Wisconsin in “Roncalli Newman Parish” and at Viterbo University, in the United States
  • at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany
  • during the Christianity-Islam conference in Beirut, Lebanon
  • during festivals: Damascus – the Arab capital of culture, Aleppo – the capital of Islamic culture
  • during the Aswatuna choir festival in Petra, Jordan
  • at the Opera House in Damascus.

I was a member of the Chamber Choir at the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus. I have performed in many countries, playing the Arabic lute (ud), including: the United States, Austria, Germany, Poland, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Russia, Morocco, Jordan, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Syria.

  • composition course under the supervision of Maciej Jabłoński, Academy of Music, Kraków, Poland 2013
  • “Baroque Music” workshops led by Marco Vitale from Italy, Pobiedna, Poland 2013
  • “Baroque Music” workshops led by Marco Vitale from Italy, Warsaw, Poland 2013
  • “Baroque Music” workshops led by Marco Vitale from Italy, Roudnice nad Labem, Czech Republic 2013
  • composition workshops led by Johanna Doderer, Vienna Austria 2012
  • workshops conducted by the American conductor Ira Spaulding, Damascus, Syria 2010
  • workshops led by Viennese composer Gerald Resch, Syria 2010
  • workshops led by composer Joseph Vella, Malta, 2009
  • workshops led by conductor Silvin Casancon from France, Syria 2008
  • Since 2020, I have been a regular member of the Polish Composers’ Union.
  • choral artist and soloist in the Youth Mediterranean Orchestra, in the piece “L’évangelie selon Jean”, conducted by Alaina Jotard, Damascus, Fez, Nice, Marseille, 2009
  • performance during the Oriental Festival, with the Syrian Symphony Orchestra, composer: Nourie Eskander, conductor: Missak Baghboudarian, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 2009
  • performance at the festival with the orchestra Solhi Al Wadi, member of the tenor section Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2009
  • performance during the Arab Capital of Culture Festival, as a tenor in the choir of the Syrian Oriental Symphony Orchestra, Damascus, Syria 2009
  • performance during the Tchaikovsky Orchestration Festival, Moscow 2008
  • performance during the Aswatuna Choir Festival, as a tenor in the “Chamber Choir w Higher Instytut of Music”, Petra, Jordan 2008
  • performance during the Arab Capital of Culture Festival, as a tenor in the choir of the Syrian Oriental Symphony Orchestra, Damascus, Syria 2008
  • performance during the Capital of Islamic Culture Festival, as a tenor with Syrian Oriental Symphony Orchestra, Aleppo, Syria
  • performance during the Christian-Muslim Conference, as a tenor with the“Rainbow Choir”, UNESCO Palace, Beirut, Lebanon, Damascus, Syria 2003
  • 2005-2013 member of the tenor section with the Syrian Symphony Orchestra, concert in Syria, United Arab Emirates and Italy