Works performed by Earplay:

Syriac Fugato 2

Sami Seif (b. 1998) is a Lebanese composer and music theorist praised as "a distinctive compositional voice" who creates "intoxicating and fascinating soundworld[s]" (Carla Rees, Pan Journal of the British Flute Society). His music is inspired by the aesthetics, philosophies, paradigms and poetry of his Middle-Eastern heritage. His work has been described as "very tasteful and flavorful" with "beautiful, sensitive writing!" (Webster University Young Composers Competition). His latest musical concerns center around the phenomenology of time and of differing degrees of focus.

Originally from the small town of Ashkout in Mount Lebanon, he was born to a non-musical family in Abu Dhabi and he is fluent in Arabic, French and English. He started out at the age of twelve as a self-taught musician, composing and playing on special Arabic keyboards designed to accommodate the microtones of Arabic music. Not having had access to formal music education, Seif taught himself how to read and write music by reading theory textbooks. He later formally studied piano, composition, audio engineering, and sound synthesis.

Seif completed his B.M., double-majoring in composition and music theory, at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was honored with the Donald Erb prize in composition and the Beth Pearce Nelson award in music theory upon graduation. He is currently pursuing his doctoral studies at the CUNY Graduate Center, studying with Jason Eckardt, David Schober, Bruce Saylor, and Robert Dick.

His website is samiseif.com.