Sami Seif - Composer

Ya Layl — Central Washington University New Music Festival
2023-10-07 14:00 (America/Halifax) | Concert Hall, Central Washington University, 400 E University Way, Ellensburg, WA, 98926, United States
Ya Layl | یا لیل for Viola Alone will be performed at the Central Washington New Music Festival in October, in Ellensburg, WA. Festival will take place from October 7 2023 at 2pm in concert hall.

Ensemble Phoenicia
2023-10-02 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Halifax) | CUNY Graduate Center, Elebash Recital Hall, 365 5th Ave, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Ensemble Phoenicia’s debut concert, including a performance of Seif’s Syriac Fugato 2 (Version for Violin and Viola) with Charlotte Loukola, Violin and Noémie Chemali, Viola.

CUNY Graduate Center — Art Science Connect Student Showcase
2023-09-29 13:00 - 16:00 (America/Halifax) | CUNY Graduate Center, Segal Theatre, 365 5th Ave, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Sami Seif will present his research on the relationship between chronometric and musical time. The presentation will be at Segal Theatre and is open to the public.

NYCC Salon
2023-09-17 14:00 - 16:30 (America/Halifax) | McKay Studio on the seventh floor of the National Opera Center, 330 7th Ave, New York, NY, 10001, United States
Sami gives a presentation on Orientalism for String Quartet at the New York Composers Circle Salon.

Miniatures from Phoenicia — Prague Modern Ensemble
2023-09-12 | St Clements Nové Město, Klimentská 1245/5, Prague, 110 00 Nové Město, Czech Republic
Prague Modern Ensemble performs Miniatures from Phoenicia for Flute Alone as part of the Echofluxx 23 Festival
Program can be viewed here

Rarescale Ensemble — Syriac Fugato 3
2023-09-05 12:30 - 14:30 UTC | St Mary’s Church, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, The Walk, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, EN6 1QQ,, United Kingdom
Rarescale Ensemble led by Carla Rees premiere Syriac Fugato 3 for Six Low Flutes at St Mary’s Church, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, 12:30pm (London time)

Society of Composers Inc. — Song for a Friend
2023-06-04 11:00 - 17:00 (America/Halifax) | Online
Society of Composers Inc. will broadcast a performance of Seif’s Song for a Friend for Bass Alone

Miniatures from Phoenicia performed by Noah Livingston
2023-05-02 17:30 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Memorial Room, Smith Memorial Hall, 805 S Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL, 61801, United States
Noah Livingston performs Miniatures from Phoenicia for Flute Alone on his Artist Diploma recital.

Miniatures from Phoenicia — Midwest Graduate Music Consortium
2023-03-31 | Univerosty of Chicago
Performance of Miniatures from Phoenicia (Flute Alone) at the Midwest Graduate Music Consortium at the University of Chicago. Details regarding exact time and place coming soon!

Conference presentation about Orientalism
2023-03-25 10:00 - 10:30 (America/New_York) | Esber Rehearsal Hall Room 121, Music Building I, Pennsylvania State University, Allen Road, University Park, State College, PA, 16802
Conference presentation about Orientalism (String Quartet), titled “How Time Passes: Some Thoughts on Musical Time” ~ 2023 New-Music Festival and Symposium ~ Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA

Presentation Abstract
We are all familiar with the standard means of measuring time (usually in minutes and seconds); however, this manner of time-measurement is divorced from music. It is clock time, not musical time. One of the great powers and mysteries of music is that it can leave us feeling that musical time transcends chronometric time. To view time as mere numerical data ignores the fact that although music occurs in time, it also shapes it and our experiences thereof. Events and time therefore exist in a complex, interactive web.
My presentation seeks to give a theoretical background of my work as a composer, specifically, as it relates to my approach to temporality. Building on the relevant ideas of previous theorists such as Jonathan Kramer, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Gérard Grisey, and Christopher Hasty, among others, my remarks on the passage of time will be nourished by philosophers from the phenomenological tradition, ethnomusicologists and cultural anthropologists, as well as some scientific literature on time-perception.
By investigating time manipulations in my own work from three different angles—matters of content, matters of form, and matters of context—this presentation describes how these parameters work together to create various experiences of time in my compositions; experiences of timelessness, of multiple temporality, and of extended temporality. My notation reflects this approach to time, as rather than making my music fit into time—as if time were a canister that held events and is not shaped by them—I grant precedence to the events over their temporality. This gives us a more subjective approach to time. The goal of this presentation is to examine this rift between objective and experienced time in my own compositions.

Ensemble 126 performs Wadi Qadisha | وادي قاديشا at The Assembly Hall at Temple Square
2023-03-15 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Denver) | The Assembly Hall at Temple Square, 50 S Temple, Salt Lake City, UT, 84150, United States

Ensemble 126 performs Wadi Qadisha | وادي قاديشا at Snow College
2023-03-14 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Denver) | Snow College, 150 College Ave E, Ephraim, UT, 84627, United States

Ensemble 126 performs Wadi Qadisha | وادي قاديشا at Brigham Young University
2023-03-13 15:30 - 17:30 (America/Denver) | Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 84602, United States

New Music Mosaic - Miniatures from Phoenicia
2023-02-26 16:00 - 18:00 (America/Chicago) | Rose Bowl Tavern, 106 N Race St, Urbana, IL, 61801, United States
New Music Mosaic presents new and recently composed works, featuring Noah Livingston performing Miniatures from Phoenicia for Flute Alone.

String Quartet Smack Down VIII
2023-02-25 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, 1120 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX, 78704, United States
The Golden Hornet String Quartet plays Reflections, excerpted from Orientalism (String Quartet) at their String Quartet Smack Down VIII event.
Golden Hornet’s String Quartet Smackdown is a bracketed, NCAA basketball style tournament competition which brings original four-minute string quartet compositions head-to-head in front of a live, participatory audience. It’s like NCAA March Madness for the ears!
Every Fall, composers from around the globe are invited to submit through an open, no-cost entry process. Following submission, a diverse panel of judges selects sixteen compositions to be performed live at the String Quartet Smackdown, which takes place in February at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX.
A professional string quartet performs the pieces LIVE* for the in-person and/or virtual audience. This performance is broken into four rounds:
Round 1 (Round of 16): One minute of all sixteen pieces
Round 2 (Quarterfinals): Two minutes of eight pieces
Round 3 (Semi-finals): Three minutes of four pieces
Round 4 (Finals) : Full four minutes of two pieces
The audience uses their cell phones or a mobile app to vote, and their responses appear live on screen. The winner of each bracket moves on in the tournament! (*In 2021, the pieces will be pre-recorded prior to the livestream to minimize technical disaster.)
In a riotous – and usually very close – finish, the audience determines the String Quartet Smackdown champion!

International Conference for Saxophone Pedagogy and Performance
2023-02-25 15:00 - 15:30 (America/New_York) | Online only; register at: https://www.saxophonepedagogyandperformance.com/p/registration.html
Andrew Hosler performs Meanings | معاني for Saxophone Alone at the International Conference for Saxophone Pedagogy and Performance.
