About
Born in Beirut in 1980, Ibrahim Maalouf is today the most popular instrumentalist on the French music scene. His work of mixing genres has been recognized around the world for more than 15 years.
His career has taken him to travel through more than 40 countries in the world and to perform in the most prestigious venues. He has performed in Istanbul in front of a full Volkswagen Arena and at the Lincoln Jazz Center in New York, a major jazz venue in the world. In 2016, he made history by becoming the first jazzman to fill the largest concert hall in France. He performed on December 14, 2016 at the Accor Arena in Paris Bercy for a historic show that sold out more than 8 months in advance.
The same year, he was described as a “virtuoso” by the prestigious New York daily, the New York Times. He will present in collaboration with The New Levant Initiative a special creation entitled "Levantine Symphony No.1" which will also be the subject of an album.
Ibrahim Maalouf enjoys recognition in France and internationally, as evidenced by the awards he has received. Rewarded twice with a Victoire du Jazz and two Victoires de la Musique, he is the only instrumentalist to receive this prestigious distinction in more than 35 years of existence. His love for cinema has led him to compose numerous soundtracks for films. In 2017, he received the César for Best Film Music, the Lumière Award for the film “In the Siberian Forests” and an Echo Jazz in Germany. For his career, the French government awarded Ibrahim Maalouf the honorary prize of Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite and is made Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
During a concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2017, he was spotted by legendary producer Quincy Jones. Following this meeting, Ibrahim becomes one of the artists that the American producer regularly encourages through Quincy Jones Productions based in Los Angeles.
Ibrahim then followed up with his 11th studio album “S3NS” in September 2019. He will occasionally perform at L'Olympia in Paris on September 23, 24 and 25 at sold out. These three dates mark the start of a series of Zéniths concerts throughout France as well as a world tour.
In November 2020, on the occasion of his 40th birthday, he released “ 40 MELODIES ” ,; a unique album featuring many exceptional guests such as Sting, Kronos Quartet, Marcus Miller, Jon Batiste, Alfredo Rodriguez, Richard Bona, Matthieu Chedid, Trilok Gurtu, Hüsnü Senlendirici, Arturo Sandoval, and many more.
In 2021, Ibrahim composed the music for the documentary film selected at Cannes "9 days in Raqqa" directed by Xavier de Lauzanne. He also composed the music for the Polish feature film selected at the Venice Film Festival "Leave no traces" by Jan P. Matuzsynski. He is collaborating once again with Mohamed Hamidi on the occasion of his new film entitled “Honorary Citizen”, which is scheduled for release in 2022. Ibrahim has since composed about fifteen soundtracks for the cinema.
Ibrahim also composed all the music for the show "Monsieur X" created by Mathilda May and performed on stage by the famous actor and comedian Pierre Richard. The play was a great success and received in 2020 a Molière for best solo performer.
On the occasion of the National Day of July 14, 2021, Ibrahim closes the great Paris concert dedicated to classical music by performing his own version of the Marseillaise alongside François Delporte and Frank Woeste, on the Champs-de-Mars and in front of more than 5 million viewers, accompanied by the Orchester National de France and the Australian conductor Simone Young.
Between 2007 and 2021, Ibrahim produced, composed, arranged and directed more than 19 albums for himself and for other artists. He also composes more than 10 symphonic works, and produces on his own label Mister Ibé “ Dancing Again ”, the first album of Thaïs Lona, emerging singer of Pop-RnB music.
As a teenager, Ibrahim topped the biggest international competitions, which encouraged him to begin a career as a classical soloist. From the 2000s, spotted for the colors and the singularity of his improvisations, he has worked together in all fields of music, namely pop, jazz as well as in so-called “world” music. Exceptional artists such as Sting, Salif Keita, Amadou & Mariam, Tryo, Matthieu Chedid or Angélique Kidjo call on him to enhance their works. Recently, French pop-folk singer Joyce Jonathan hired Ibrahim to produce, compose and co-write her next album.
At the same time, Ibrahim invests a large part of his time teaching trumpet and improvisation in conservatories since 1999. He has been invited several times by ITG (International Trumpet Guild) to the United States for concerts and masterclasses . In 2011, he created the first class of classical musical improvisation at the Conservatoire Régional de Paris and at the Pôle Supérieur Paris Boulogne, and for several years has been developing a specific pedagogy for teaching classical musical improvisation within conservatories. In January 2022, Ibrahim will present the Free Spirit Ensemble, which will be the very first classical orchestra in the world to specialize in classical musical improvisation. Since 2019, Ibrahim is also the sponsor of the Orchester à l'École association, which is made up of several thousand orchestras across France. The young musicians of the association are regularly invited to play with him during his shows.
In November 2021, Ibrahim Maalouf released his 15th Ibrahim Maalouf studio album entitled “ FIRST NOEL ”: a new project in which he brought 25 of the greatest Christmas classics up to date, in addition to 3 new compositions. Ibrahim will end the year 2021 in style by playing for the second time at the Accor Arena in Paris Bercy with many prestigious guests.
