Karim Al‑Zand | Composer

Composer Karim Al‑Zand’s music is acclaimed for its expressive power and imaginative spirit, described by The Boston Globe as “strong and startlingly lovely.” His works have been performed across North America and internationally, earning him distinctions such as the Arts and Letters Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the 2024 Barlow Prize.

A prolific and versatile composer, Al‑Zand has created a catalogue of works spanning orchestra, opera, theater, chamber, vocal, and solo repertoire. His music often explores connections between sound and other art forms, drawing inspiration from graphic art, myths and fables, folk traditions, jazz, film, spoken word, and his own Middle Eastern heritage. From compositions for young audiences to scores for dance and interdisciplinary projects, Al‑Zand’s work resonates with a wide range of listeners and collaborators.

His recent commissions include works for the Orchestre National de France, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Houston Symphony Orchestra, and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, among many others. Notable compositions include Al Jazari’s Ingenious Clocks (2025) for orchestra, Al Hakawati (2024) for soprano and orchestra, Luctus Profugis (2016) for string orchestra, and Cinderella (2014), music for Lotte Reiniger’s 1922 silent silhouette film.

Al‑Zand’s music has been performed by leading conductors such as Cristian Măcelaru, Vladimir Jurowski, Juraj Valčuha, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, John Axelrod, and Sarah Hicks, and performed by some of the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, St. Louis Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Orchestre National de Lyon, Brussels Philharmonic, and the National Radio Orchestra of Romania. His works have been heard in major concert halls worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Barbican Centre, Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Kennedy Center, Kölner Philharmonie, Kaufman Music Center in New York, and Tonhalle Düsseldorf.

Alongside his creative work, Al‑Zand is a founding and artistic board member of Musiqa, Houston’s leading contemporary music ensemble, where he helps shape adventurous programming of the 21st century repertoire. His scholarly interests include jazz, counterpoint, and improvisation, and he has contributed to the field through research on both jazz practice and 18th-century extemporization.

Born in Tunisia to an Iraqi father and an American mother, Al‑Zand grew up in Ottawa, Canada. He is a graduate of McGill University and Harvard University, and has received numerous national prizes, including the Sackler Composition Prize, the ArtSong Prize, and the Louisville Orchestra Composition Prize. He currently serves as Professor of Composition and Theory at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.