For Your GRAMMY® Consideration
Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance
Balourdet Quartet, EmmaLee Hicks, Piero Guimaraes
Best Contemporary Composition
Four Dances from Clorinda Agonistes
“The best new albums out Oct. 24”
Classical — Kareem Roustom, Shades of Night
— NPR Music, All Songs Considered
“Syrian American composer Kareem Roustom brings the music of Syria, Palestine and the Levant into the Western classical repertoire.”
— Violinist.com
About the Album
Shades of Night reflects Syrian American composer Kareem Roustom’s multifaceted Arab-Western identity while exploring music’s capacity to transcend cultural and geographic borders. Written between 2018 and 2023 and performed primarily by the Balourdet Quartet, the collection draws on melodic modes, rhythmic contours, and ornamentation from Arabic folk traditions across Syria, Palestine, and the Levant, weaving them into the harmonic and structural language of the Western classical tradition.
Across works shaped by folk song, dance, memory, and displacement, Roustom creates a musical dialogue between worlds—one rooted in longing, defiance, and hope. At its heart is a belief in shared humanity and in music’s ability to carry culture across borders, preserve what might otherwise be lost, and create deeper understanding between people.
About the Artists
About Kareem Roustom
Syrian-American-Canadian Kareem Roustom is an Emmy-nominated composer and performer (on the oud) of emotionally rich, rhythmically intricate music for chamber, orchestral, choral ensembles, dance and chamber opera. Blending Middle Eastern traditions with contemporary colors, Roustom’s genre crossing collaborations include music commissioned by conductor Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the Kronos Quartet, arrangements for pop icons Shakira and Tina Turner, as well as a recent collaboration with acclaimed British choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh. Roustom has been composer-in-residence at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming, and with the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen in Germany and the Mannheim Philharmonic. A musically bi-lingual composer, Roustom is rooted in the music of the Arab near-east but his music often expresses beyond the confines of tradition. The themes of a number of his works often touch issues of those affected by war and instability, as well as themes of spirituality.
About EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks
A versatile violinist and educator, she performs across classical, contemporary, traditional, and improvised music. Her career has taken her around the world with the Pacific Music Festival and Orchestra of the Americas, and a workshop with the Kronos Quartet culminated in a performance at Carnegie Hall. She holds a doctorate from SUNY Stony Brook, where she studied with members of the Emerson Quartet, Pamela Frank, and Ani Kavafian. A former Community MusicWorks fellow and co-founder of the Newport String Project, she now teaches at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and performs with the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra and ensembles throughout New England.
About Balourdet Quartet
Balourdet Quartet has been acclaimed for its vibrant energy and emotional depth — described as creating “a world where memory and transformation coexist … one in which clarity of line and finely judged color matter as much as expressive warmth” (Seen and Heard International). As “an ensemble unafraid to show its personality” (The Strad), Balourdet was awarded the 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as Chamber Music America’s 2024 Cleveland Quartet Award. The Quartet engages communities in ways that “inspire their creativity” (The Seattle Times) a core part of Balourdet’s mission, through residencies with the Seattle Chamber Music Society and the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle. Founded in 2018, in the spirit of friendship and mutual love of food, Balourdet Quartet is named after Antoine Balourdet, former chef at the Hotel St. Bernard in Taos, New Mexico, where the Quartet first came together.
About Piero Guimaraes
Brazilian percussionist Piero Guimaraes is an internationally active performer specializing in orchestral and contemporary music. He has performed throughout the United States, Brazil, and Europe, including at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Symphony Space, and Roulette, and has collaborated with composers including John Luther Adams, Heinz Holliger, and Kaija Saariaho. Guimaraes performs regularly with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Musica Viva, and New Bedford Symphony Orchestra and is a core member of Iktus Percussion and Verdant Vibes. He holds master’s and doctoral degrees from Stony Brook University and serves on the faculties of Rhode Island College and Stonehill College.
Credits
Balourdet Quartet
Angela Bae, Violin (Violin 1 on tracks 5–13)
Justin DeFilippis, Violin (Violin 1 on tracks 1–4 and 17–20)
Benjamin Zannoni, Viola
Russell Houston, Cello
“Gnizo”
EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks, Violin
Piero Guimaraes, Percussion
Produced & Edited by: Kareem Roustom & John Weston
Creative Director, Phenotypic Recordings / Production Coordinator: Stephen Prutsman
Recording Engineer: John Weston
Assistant Engineer: Chris Wilson
“Gnizo” Recording Engineer: Peter Atkinson
Mixing & Mastering: John Weston at Futura Productions, Roslindale, MA
Album Art & Design: Kevork Mourad
Graphic Design: Christopher Kornmann
Recorded: November 1–3, 2023 at Futura Productions, Roslindale, MA
“Gnizo” recorded: November 10, 2023 at Distler Hall, Tufts University’s Department of Music.