Joseph Tawadros

Joseph Tawadros is an oud and violin player, composer and instrumentalist based in Australia, born in Cairo in 1983. He moves to Australia in 1986 and develops a style shaped by Egyptian musical traditions, improvisation and jazz.

Background and musical family

Tawadros inherits musical influences from his maternal grandfather, Mansi Habib, an oud and violin virtuoso and composer in Cairo, and from his uncle, Yacoub Mansi Habib, an Egyptian musician associated with early trumpet playing in the country. He studies with Mohamed Youssef, an oud player, jazz pianist and family friend, who encourages him to explore the oud, traditional Egyptian taqasim and improvisation. Tawadros is a member of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and he also helps establish a Coptic Youth Orchestra with his friend, saxophonist Christian Watson.

Early performance and study

He begins performing publicly at the age of 12 in a trio with Youssef and percussionist Tarek Sawires, which gives him an early platform for his compositions. In December 2001 he returns to Egypt to study Egyptian violin with Esawi Daghir, who is impressed enough to teach him without charge and continues to guide that part of his training.

Career and performances

Tawadros performs at venues including the Sydney Opera House, Cairo Opera House, Alexandria Opera House, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, City Recital Hall Angel Place and Institut Du Monde Arabe in Paris. He also appears at festivals and events such as WOMADelaide, the Huntington Classical Music Festival and the National Multicultural Festival. His collaborators include Zakir Hussain, Sultan Khan, Slava Grigoryan, Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, James Crabb, Christian Lindberg, Neil Finn, Mark Isaacs, William Barton, Karin Schaupp, Bobby Singh and Katie Noonan.

In March 2004 he completes an Egyptian tour of Cairo and Alexandria, invited by the Egyptian Minister of Culture and the Opera House, in what is described as the first cultural exchange between the Australian and Egyptian governments. He performs as a solo artist at WOMADelaide the same year and takes part in an all-star jam session alongside musicians including Tinariwen, Kila, Ustad Sultan Khan, Hamid Baroudi, Mark Atkins and Ustad Zakir Hussain. In July 2004 he tours Italy with accordion player James Crabb and appears with the jazz band Wanderlust at Villa Celimontana jazz festival in Rome.

Recordings, awards and composition

His debut album, Storyteller, appears on ABC Classics in 2004 and is nominated for an ARIA award for Best World Music Album. His later releases include Rouhani, Visions, Epiphany and Angel. Visions receives an ARIA nomination for Best World Music Album, and he wins the Freedman Fellowship award for classical music. He completes a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of NSW in 2004, majoring in performance and composition.

Tawadros also composes for film. His music features in the documentaries I Remember 1948 and The Last Days of Yasser Arafat, the short films Haneen and Checkpoint, and animations with artist Michael Roseth.