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Negar Bouban is an Iranian musician, musicologist, composer and Oud player, born in Tehran, 1973. During thirty years of a dynamic career, Negar has been active as composer, performer and recording musician with ensembles, as well as solo. At the same time, she has been working in research and university teaching in Iran and many other countries. Negar's passionate attitude for live performances goes hand in hand with the art of improvisation, which is a distinctive part of her concerts, and the so-far-released five solo albums of her music. Negar has a PhD in Art Studies, in the inter-disciplinary field of Linguistics and Musicology, in which she wrote her thesis on Foundations of Rhythm in Persian Language and Dastgah Music. Negar will be one of the jury members of the UD Concours 2026.

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https://www.instagram.com/hvmr40/

https://www.youtube.com/@hamedsaeed

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Kyriakos Kalaitzidis, composer, oud player, artistic director of En Chordais; and Professor at the Department of Music Studies - University of Ioannina, is considered one of the most important musicians and scholars in the field of modal secular music of the post-Byzantine era and Mediterranean today. He has given more than 2000 concerts in 52 countries in major festivals and venues, among them at Philharmonie de Paris, Lincoln Center (New York), Berlin Philharmonie, Maison Symphonic (Montreal), Hong Kong Concert Hall, Fès Festival, Melbourne Recital Centre, Sori Festival (South Korea), Cervantino Festival (Mexico), Beiteddine Festival and many others. Important also are his solo oud performances at Sydney Opera House and at various oud festivals (Istanbul, Muscat, Athens, Riyadh, Amman, Tetouan, Beirut, Thessaloniki and Hammamet). He has given lectures, workshops and master classes at eminent Universities, among them at Princeton, Harvard, McGill, Université de Strasbourg, Istanbul State Conservatory and many others. Awards • Aga Khan Music Awards, Prize 2026 • Academie Charles Cros, Prize 2014 • Radio France Prize for World Music, 2008 Kyriakos will be one of the jury members of the UD Concours 2026.

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.Nizar Rohana (Haifa, 1975) is a Palestinian oud player, composer and musicologist. He began playing the oud at a young age and has gone on to become one of the better-known contemporary Palestinian performers on the instrument. His music combines traditional Arabic and Middle Eastern influences with elements of jazz, improvisation and Western classical music. Together with Tony Overwater on double bass and Ruven Ruppik on percussion, he forms the Nizar Rohana Trio. He studied the oud, music and musicology at the Department of Arabic Music at the Jerusalem Academy for Music and Dance and at the Hebrew University. He later obtained a master’s degree and a PhD from Leiden University, where his research focused on improvisation and composition for the oud. Rohana has been living in the Netherlands since 2013. He has collaborated with musicians such as Tony Overwater and performed at international festivals in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia. He has also taught at the Edward Said National Conservatory and as a visiting lecturer at various Dutch conservatoires and universities. Rohana serves as artistic coordinator for the UD Competition, in which young ud players aged between 16 and 35 compete for the Said Ghraibi Prize.

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It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing Nazih Borish in February 2026. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his loved ones. https://constantinople.ca/en/musiciens/nazih-borish-2/

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Said Chraibi liep voorop in een generatie muzikanten die de tradities van de Arabisch-Andalusische muziek in Marokko nieuw leven inblaast. Zijn spectaculaire techniek op de ud en zijn composities die traditie en hedendaags combineerde, maakten heb een icoon in Marokko, het Midden-Oosten, Europa en de Verenigde Staten. 

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