Wissam Boustany
WISSAM BOUSTANY is one of only a few flautists to have launched a successful career as an international soloist, Wissam Boustany is a performer who inspires audiences with his energetic and communicative music-making. His flute has taken him on numerous tours to Europe, the Middle-East, Far East, USA and Latin America, where he continues to present many concerts, master-classes and workshops.
He embraces a wide repertoire, and has developed a keen interest in introducing the music of today within the context of imaginative program planning, which combines the innovative with the traditional. Amongst the composers who have written for him: Beat Furrer, Alun Hoddinott, Simon Holt, Tarek Younis, Carl Witt and Boghos Gelalian. He has also given the world prebmieres of Paul Reade's Concerto, Walid Howrani's Life Cycle, Peter Cowdrey's Land of the Prophets and Carl Witt's This Invisible World. As an orchestral musician, Wissam Boustany was closely associated with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in the early 1980s, with whom he appeared as soloist on the award winning Deutsche Gramophone recording of 'Il Viaggio a Rheims'. Three solo CDs are currently also available: Wandering Winds, Sounds from Within and Vivaldi's Children.
Born in Lebanon, Wissam Boustany began his musical studies in Beirut with his stepfather. He moved to Britain in 1977 where he studied at Chetham's School of Music & the Royal Northern College of Music. He has received many awards, notably the Silver Medal in the 1982 Madeira International Flute Competition and (in the same year) the woodwind prize in the Royal Overseas League Competitio"n. He was also the Silver Medalist in the Shell/LSO Competition and won the 2nd prize in the woodwind section of the first 'BBC Young Musician of the Year'.
His experience of the war in Lebanon greatly influenced his outlook on Life and Music, and he seeks to promote the ideal of Peace wherever his flute takes him. He has started "TOWARDS HUMANITY", a multi-decade initiative using music as a catalyst to help heal the violence in many parts of the world, which was inaugurated at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in February 1995. TOWARDS HUMANITY works closely with charities and institutions in areas suffering from the tragedy of war, exposing their cultures and creativity rather than the more shameful qualities of mankind. Wissam Boustany's communicative, energetic and sincere music making have inspired many audiences and musicians around the world.
