A contemporary pioneer of Arabic music, Simon Shaheen has gone leaps and bounds beyond his vocation as virtuoso on the oud and violin. Arguably the most important Arab musician and composer of this generation, the native Palestinian continues to push the boundaries of artistic collaboration. Firmly rooted in Arabic musical traditions, Shaheen has cast a wide collaborative net over the genres of Western classical music, Latin American, Indian classical and Spanish flamenco. His cross-cultural efforts are grounded in a strict musical education at the Academy of Music in Jerusalem, and later at the Manhattan School of Music and Columbia University. In the 1980s and 1990s, Shaheen fashioned a unique musical career in New York, releasing important albums such as "Saltanah," "Turath," "Taqasim" and "Simon Shaheen: The Music Of Mohamed Abdel Wahab." For his exceptional contribution to folk and traditional arts, Shaheen was later awarded the esteemed National Heritage Award at the White House in 1994.

As a child, Shaheen drew inspiration from his father, an oud maestro, and from the hypnotizing vocals of Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum. Shaheen had a natural inclination for music and the oud instrument, an ancestor of the Western lute. Since, he has been heralded as a custodian of Arab music and culture. Shaheen produces the Annual Arab Festival of Arts in New York, a pivotal platform for Arab artists, and works with leading universities in the United States, including Princeton, Harvard and Yale. He also occupies professorial positions at Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory in Boston. Amid giving back to his community, Shaheen has also graced the world’s most coveted and glittering stages as a celebrated performer. Among them, Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center have housed his mystical sound.

Most recently, Shaheen has witnessed the great success of his fusion group, Qantara. Their album "Blue Flame" earned 11 Grammy nominations. The band’s apt moniker, meaning arch in Arabic, appropriately identifies its spirit of connecting various musical forms. This sophisticated nexus of classical Arabic, jazz and South American sounds has inspired a genre of its own. Shaheen tours the world with his two groups, Qantara and the Near Eastern Music Ensemble, and as a solo artist, thriving on eclecticism and the seamless marriage of traditional music with an array of global idioms. Shaheen greets his audiences with his coat of arms, an instrumental Arabic sound, bent toward innovation and creativity.

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