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Saad Haddad

Saad Haddad
Photo: Matt Dine

Saad Haddad writes music where the concert hall meets the sounds of his family’s Lebanese and Jordanian heritage. The New York Times heard in it “a remarkable fusion of idioms.”

Born in Georgia in 1992 and raised in Southern California, he grew up on the 1980s pop his mother loved, and first discovered Mozart through an elementary school assignment. The melodies and rhythms of his parents’ homeland stayed with him. Today his music lives where the Arabic maqamat framework meets spectral harmony and the modality of the late Renaissance.

His music has been written for and performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France, the JACK Quartet, the International Contemporary Ensemble and Imani Winds, with performances across Europe, Asia and South America.

He studied with John Corigliano at Juilliard and with Georg Friedrich Haas and George Lewis at Columbia, where he earned his doctorate and taught for several years. He has been composer in residence with the California Symphony and Young Concert Artists, and has spent time writing at Copland House, the Bogliasco Foundation, the Millay Colony and the Ucross Foundation.

Saad also mentors composers from around the world through his online studio. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, their two children and two dogs.

200+ concerts in 90 cities across 13 countries

“A remarkable fusion of idioms.”
The New York Times
“Haddad’s intriguing textures made the night’s most arresting listening.”
New York Classical Review
“The way that Saad Haddad has forged a balance between being practical and a desire to take risks is almost as seamless as his balancing of Western classical and Middle Eastern musical traditions.”
Frank J. Oteri, NewMusicBox
In rehearsal and on stage
Saad Haddad writing music at a desk beside a piano
At work on a new scorePhoto: Alessandro Vulcano
Saad Haddad and Kinan Azmeh taking bows with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra
Bows after the Clarinet Concerto with Kinan Azmeh and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra
Saad Haddad speaking on stage with the Columbus Symphony
Introducing Risala with the Columbus SymphonyPhoto: Stephen Pariser Photography
Saad Haddad shaking hands with the conductor of the Hangzhou Philharmonic on stage
With the Hangzhou Philharmonic
Saad Haddad with the members of the Lydian Quartet
With the Lydian Quartet
Saad Haddad working through a passage with a violinist
Working through a passage at the Columbus EarShot readings
Saad Haddad discussing a score with a conductor
Talking through the score at the Columbus EarShot readings
Saad Haddad conducting players in a recording studio
Leading a recording session
A teenage Saad Haddad with Gustavo Dudamel and two fellow young composers
With Gustavo Dudamel and fellow LA Phil Composer Fellows
Selected

Highlights

Commissions and premieres

  • ShabahKansas City Symphony and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
  • AysheenLos Angeles Philharmonic
  • Meshahidpiano concerto for IRCAM and the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France
  • Clarinet ConcertoKinan Azmeh and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra
  • ManarahAmerican Composers Orchestra, Zankel Hall

Honors

Residencies

Study and teaching

  • Columbia UniversityDMA with Georg Friedrich Haas and George Lewis; lecturer
  • The Juilliard SchoolMM with John Corigliano
  • University of Southern CaliforniaBM
  • New Jersey City Universityadjunct professor
  • 7 juriesincluding Music Teachers National Association, California Symphony, Copland House

Thinking about programming a piece or commissioning something new?

Every score is yours to study, and orchestral scores and parts are ready to rent. Saad would love to hear from you.

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