Karim Sulayman, tenor Sean Shibe, guitar

About This Performance Examining the close cultural and musical ties between East and West, this collaboration between Grammy Award-winning tenor Karim Sulayman and guitarist Sean Shibe offers music ranging from Dowland and Takemitsu to traditional songs from the Middle East. This musical journey reflects the artists’ personal experiences of dynamic, cross-over identities, as they were raised in the West but had ethnic roots in the East (Lebanon and Japan, respectively). Broken Branches explores the wood of the guitar and its relatives, as well as the splintering of history known as diaspora. Broken Branches Program includes works by Dowland, Monteverdi, Britten, Rodrigo, Takemitsu, Harvey, and Chaker and traditional songs from the Middle East Watch the livestreamed concert via the video player below. Help Us Keep the Music Playing PCMS livestreams are offered on a pay what you wish basis. These performances are possible only because of the generous support of friends like you. We thank you for contributing as generously as you can when watching these events. Gifts of any size are deeply appreciated. Please use the form below to give or text PCMS to 44321. If you encounter any technical issues while donating, please try refreshing the page or donating via PayPal . Special thanks to Susan Giesecke Bloom and A. Charles Winkelman with support from The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, Theodore Presser Foundation, Dot and Rick Nelson, Sid Kaplan, and the American Philosophical Society for their support of our livestream series, and for helping us deliver world-class artistry to audiences around the globe. The Artist(s) Karim Sulayman, tenor Lebanese-American tenor Karim Sulayman has garnered international attention as a sophisticated and versatile artist, consistently praised for his sensitive and intelligent musicianship, riveting stage presence, and beautiful voice. The 2019 Best Classical Solo Vocal GRAMMY® Award winner, he continues to earn acclaim for his programming and recording projects, while regularly performing on the world’s stages in opera,… Read More × Artist’s website Karim Sulayman, tenor Lebanese-American tenor Karim Sulayman has garnered international attention as a sophisticated and versatile artist, consistently praised for his sensitive and intelligent musicianship, riveting stage presence, and beautiful voice. The 2019 Best Classical Solo Vocal GRAMMY® Award winner, he continues to earn acclaim for his programming and recording projects, while regularly performing on the world’s stages in opera, orchestral concerts, recital and chamber music. Recently Mr. Sulayman made his solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall to a sold out audience, followed by the world premiere of his critically acclaimed original production, Unholy Wars, an Italian Baroque pasticcio centered around the Middle East and the Crusades, at Spoleto Festival USA. He then returned to the Aldeburgh Festival for several different programs, including his program, Broken Branches, with guitarist Sean Shibe. Other recent season highlights include engagements at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, and Ravinia Festival, as well as with Chicago, Pittsburgh and National Symphony Orchestras, and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, and leading roles with Drottningholms Slottsteater, Houston Grand Opera, Florentine Opera, New York City Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera. A dedicated chamber musician, Sulayman was a frequent participant at the Marlboro Music Festival in collaboration with co-directors and pianists Mitsuko Uchida and Richard Goode. He has since been presented by many of the world’s leading chamber music festivals, collaborating frequently with groups like Eighth Blackbird and as a core member of the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective. His concerts and recordings have been broadcast nationally and internationally on NPR, American Public Media, BBC Radio 3 and WDR 3. Sulayman’s thought provoking and innovative programming is highlighted in his growing discography which includes his debut solo album, Songs of Orpheus, which was released to international acclaim on the AVIE label. Named “Critic’s Choice” by Opera News, and praised for his “lucid, velvety tenor and pop-star charisma” by BBC Music Magazine, Karim won the 2019 GRAMMY® Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. His second solo album, Where Only Stars Can Hear Us, an album of Schubert Lieder with fortepianist Yi-heng Yang was released on AVIE in March 2020 and debuted at #1 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart and has received widespread critical acclaim, including being named once again as “Critic’s Choice” by Opera News, and included on the New York Times’ “Best Classical Music of 2020.” His third solo album, Broken Branches, was released by Pentatone in May, 2023. A native of Chicago, Karim Sulayman began his musical education with violin studies at age 3, which he continued through high school. He also spent years as a boy alto the Chicago Children’s Choir and was hand selected by Sir Georg Solti and Leonard Slatkin as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony. He graduated with highest honors from the Eastman School of Music where he worked in the Collegium Musicum under the tutelage of Paul O’Dette, and earned a Masters degree from Rice University. He later moved to Paris, France where he studied with renowned tenor/haute-contre, Howard Crook. He also studied improvisation at the Second City Training Center in Chicago. Karim is passionate about his place in the Arts industry as someone who challenges audiences to think outside the box in a quest to maintain classical music’s relevance in a modern world, smashing the practice of treating old works as museum pieces. He enjoys educating the next generation of music students, encouraging them to think in this way while helping them cultivate their own unique voices. He hopes to make positive changes through thoughtful performance, arts advocacy, and social justice that will impact generations to come. Sean Shibe, guitar A formerBBCNew Generation Artist, Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship2012winner, Royal Philharmonic Society2018 Young Artist Award winner, and recipient of the2022Leonard Bernstein Award, Sean Shibe continues to prove himself atruly original mind at the frontier of contemporary classical music. This season sees him premiere new concertos by Cassandra Miller and Oliver Leith,… Read More × Artist’s website Sean Shibe, guitar A former BBC New Generation Artist, Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship 2012 winner, Royal Philharmonic Society 2018 Young Artist Award winner, and recipient of the 2022 Leonard Bernstein Award, Sean Shibe continues to prove himself atruly original mind at the frontier of contemporary classical music. This season sees him premiere new concertos by Cassandra Miller and Oliver Leith, as well as tour Thomas Adès’s first work for anon-keyboard solo instrument. He also appears in recital at iconic venues across Europe including Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Philharmonie de Paris, Konzerthaus Wien and Wigmore Hall as he takes up the title of ECHO Rising Star. Further highlights comprise a US tour with tenor Karim Sulayman, performances with mezzo-soprano Ema Nikolovska, and the UK premiere of Francisco Coll’s Turia, for guitar and large orchestra with Delyana Lazorova and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Often praised for his original programming, Shibe’s discography continues to garner recognition from critics and audiences all over. Most recently, his solo album Lost &Found was awarded the OPUS Klassik 2023 Award for Solo Instrument, adding to his OPUS Klassik 2021 Award for Chamber Music Recording, 2019 Gramophone Concept Album of the Year Award and 2021 Gramophone Instrumental Award for softLOUD and Bach respectively. His discography continues to expand in new directions two releases in 2023: his latest solo album Profesión