Ibrahim Maalouf

Ibrahim Maalouf

Ibrahim Maalouf is a French-Lebanese trumpeter, composer, arranger and teacher based in France. He is born in Beirut in 1980 and is associated with classical, contemporary jazz, jazz, jazz fusion, jazz pop, jazz-funk and related fusion styles. He records on the Mister Ibe label.

Background and family

Maalouf is the son of trumpeter Nassim Maalouf and pianist Nada Maalouf. He is also the nephew of writer Amin Maalouf and the grandson of journalist, poet and musicologist Rushdi Maalouf. His family leaves Lebanon during the civil war, and he grows up in the Paris suburbs with his parents and his sister Layla, who is two years older than him. He lives in France.

Training and technique

He begins trumpet lessons at the age of seven with his father, who teaches him classical technique, early music, modern and contemporary music, classical Arabic music and Arab improvisation. He also learns piccolo trumpet at a young age. Maalouf uses the quarter-tone trumpet, a micro-tonal instrument his father invents in the 1960s, and is described as the only trumpet player in the world to play Arabic music on the trumpet in fourth tones. He also teaches trumpet.

Early performance and education

From the age of nine, he performs with his father as a duo across Europe and the Middle East in a Baroque repertoire including Vivaldi, Purcell and Albinoni. He studies until the age of 17 and graduates with a bachelor’s degree in General Scientific Mathematics from the Lycée d’Étampes in Essonne. As a teenager, he gains wider attention performing with a chamber orchestra in Bach’s Second Brandenburg Concerto, and Maurice André encourages him to give up mathematics and devote himself fully to music.

Classical recognition

Maalouf is a winner of major classical trumpet competitions. His early profile combines classical performance with later work in jazz and related contemporary styles, and his playing remains closely linked to the Arabic trumpet tradition taught by his father.