His home in Mosul was raided and his instruments destroyed as part of a crackdown on all music and art. His city’s captors threatened to slice his fingers to bleed out the “demon” that was making him play and compose music. None of this stopped Iraqi musician Ameen Mokdad from composing and recording. None of this stopped him from performing a concert atop ruins as shells exploded nearby him. None of this stopped him from becoming the “violinist who defied Islamic State” - a term coined by Reuters in 2017 in their coverage of Mokdad following the liberation of Mosul.
Now, in spring of 2023, Ameen Mokdad is finally coming to the United States for the first time- specifically to Connecticut. His tour, titled Ameen Mokdad’s The Curve, will take him all around the state to tell his story- where he will play his music with only Hartford’s Cuatro Puntos Ensemble. Middletown’s Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet has choreographed his music, under the direction of Elisa Schroth.
Now, in spring of 2023, Ameen Mokdad is finally coming to the United States for the first time- specifically to Connecticut. His tour, titled Ameen Mokdad’s The Curve, will take him all around the state to tell his story- where he will play his music with only Hartford’s Cuatro Puntos Ensemble. Middletown’s Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet has choreographed his music, under the direction of Elisa Schroth.
Sign up for a date and location to experience The Curve LIVE
Tuesday, May 2, 2023*
6:00pm
Wadsworth Mansion
421 Wadsworth Street, Middletown, CT 06457
* with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
6:00pm
Wadsworth Mansion
421 Wadsworth Street, Middletown, CT 06457
* with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
Wednesday, May 3, 2023*
4:00pm
Yale University
Benjamin Franklin College
New Haven, CT
* with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet
SOLD OUT
4:00pm
Yale University
Benjamin Franklin College
New Haven, CT
* with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet
SOLD OUT
Saturday, May 6, 2023*
6:00pm
Church of the Holy Trinity
381 Main St, Middletown, CT 06457
* with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
Suggested Donation: $30 per person
6:00pm
Church of the Holy Trinity
381 Main St, Middletown, CT 06457
* with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
Suggested Donation: $30 per person
Friday, May 12, 2023
7:00pm
Westport Museum of Contemporary Art
19 Newtown Turnpike, Westport, CT 06880
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
Tickets are $40 per person for this event, discounted with Westport MoCA membership
7:00pm
Westport Museum of Contemporary Art
19 Newtown Turnpike, Westport, CT 06880
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
Tickets are $40 per person for this event, discounted with Westport MoCA membership
Thursday, May 18, 2023*
6:00pm
Wadsworth Mansion
421 Wadsworth Street, Middletown, CT 06457
* with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
6:00pm
Wadsworth Mansion
421 Wadsworth Street, Middletown, CT 06457
* with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
Saturday, May 20, 2023*
6:00pm
Trinity On The Green
230 Temple Street, New Haven, CT 06511
* with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
6:00pm
Trinity On The Green
230 Temple Street, New Haven, CT 06511
* with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
Sunday, May 21, 2023*
4:00pm
Christ Church Cathedral
45 Church Street, Hartford, CT 06103
*with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
Suggested Donation: $30 per person
4:00pm
Christ Church Cathedral
45 Church Street, Hartford, CT 06103
*with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
Suggested Donation: $30 per person
Friday, May 26, 2023
12:00pm
Trinity College - Raether Library
300 Summit St, Hartford, CT 06106
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
12:00pm
Trinity College - Raether Library
300 Summit St, Hartford, CT 06106
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
Thursday, June 1, 2023*
7:00pm
Lutheran Church of St. Mark
75 Griswold St, Glastonbury, CT 06033
*with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
Suggested Donation: $30 per person
7:00pm
Lutheran Church of St. Mark
75 Griswold St, Glastonbury, CT 06033
*with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
Suggested Donation: $30 per person
GRAND FINALE WITH FULL ORCHESTRA
Ameen Mokdad with New London Community Orchestra, Cuatro Puntos Ensemble, & Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet
Thursday, June 15, 2023
7:00pm
Garde Arts Center
New London, CT
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
we recommend that you attend this Grande Finale program in addition to any one of the above programs- this Orchestra + Ballet spectacle is not to be missed!
Ameen Mokdad with New London Community Orchestra, Cuatro Puntos Ensemble, & Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet
Thursday, June 15, 2023
7:00pm
Garde Arts Center
New London, CT
Tickets Available Now!
Click here to reserve tickets
we recommend that you attend this Grande Finale program in addition to any one of the above programs- this Orchestra + Ballet spectacle is not to be missed!
About the Artists
Ameen Mokdad
Ameen Mokdad was born in Baghdad, Iraq on the 1st of May 1989.
He graduated in 2013 from the University of Mosul Agriculture and Forestry College. He lived in the city of Mosul, in the north of Iraq, from 2003 until after the ISIS occupation. He started learning and making music in 2009. He has composed music for films and theater plays since 2014, has acted and directed experimental theater plays since 2017, and has worked as a music teacher and conductor since 2018. He founded the Light Orchestra in the city of Mosul 2019.
Cuatro Puntos Ensemble
Cuatro Puntos ("four points" in Spanish) is a non-profit organization that works to uplift persecuted, silenced or underrepresented music voices from around the world. Based in Connecticut, Cuatro Puntos is the parent organization for two permanent ensembles: Cuatro Puntos Ensemble (a professional string ensemble) and Music Moves Hartford Street Choir (an ensemble of adults who face housing or food insecurity in Hartford, in partnership with Christ Church Cathedral). Cuatro Puntos’ work is long-term project based, and projects often last many years. A project usually consists of a partnership with a musician or musical group who considers their art form as silenced, persecuted, or underrepresented. Through logistical and financial support, and often via musical partnerships with our permanent ensembles, Cuatro Puntos develops opportunities to spotlight the underrepresented musician or art form. The material results of a project vary, but they most often include: a recorded album (distributed on an international label), live concerts, commissions of new music, video projects, and music creation based on an intercultural dialogue model. Our album discography chronicles our most in-depth projects: Ji bo sê kes çay (preserving traditional Kurdish music); Through The Eyes of Children (highlighting American middle school students who speak out against youth violence); Ameen Mokdad’s The Curve (highlighting musical oppression by extremists in Iraq); Jaipur to Cairo (underrepresented composers/genres of the Middle East); and Rosegarden of Light (young musicians of Afghanistan). Current projects include Contemporary Ukrainian Composers (commissioning composers inside Ukraine in 2022/23) and an album of music recorded in 2023 by Afghan musicians who are in hiding inside the country. Our albums have been published on Naxos, Toccata Classics, Métier, and Arkadash. The quality of our work has been praised around the world, with airtime on NPR, BBC, and reviews by Fanfare. Cuatro Puntos Ensemble has performed extensively throughout the United States as well as in Bolivia, Brazil, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, and Afghanistan as they work alongside underrepresented musicians. Tracks from our albums have been included on the soundtrack for films produced in England, Australia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and our organization has presented at prestigious universities such as New England Conservatory (Boston), Columbia University (New York), Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (Germany), and Goldsmiths College (London). We invite you to visit our website to to experience our projects. You may interact by attending a live concert, listening to our albums, or searching our Monday Music video archives.
Ameen Mokdad was born in Baghdad, Iraq on the 1st of May 1989.
He graduated in 2013 from the University of Mosul Agriculture and Forestry College. He lived in the city of Mosul, in the north of Iraq, from 2003 until after the ISIS occupation. He started learning and making music in 2009. He has composed music for films and theater plays since 2014, has acted and directed experimental theater plays since 2017, and has worked as a music teacher and conductor since 2018. He founded the Light Orchestra in the city of Mosul 2019.
Cuatro Puntos Ensemble
Cuatro Puntos ("four points" in Spanish) is a non-profit organization that works to uplift persecuted, silenced or underrepresented music voices from around the world. Based in Connecticut, Cuatro Puntos is the parent organization for two permanent ensembles: Cuatro Puntos Ensemble (a professional string ensemble) and Music Moves Hartford Street Choir (an ensemble of adults who face housing or food insecurity in Hartford, in partnership with Christ Church Cathedral). Cuatro Puntos’ work is long-term project based, and projects often last many years. A project usually consists of a partnership with a musician or musical group who considers their art form as silenced, persecuted, or underrepresented. Through logistical and financial support, and often via musical partnerships with our permanent ensembles, Cuatro Puntos develops opportunities to spotlight the underrepresented musician or art form. The material results of a project vary, but they most often include: a recorded album (distributed on an international label), live concerts, commissions of new music, video projects, and music creation based on an intercultural dialogue model. Our album discography chronicles our most in-depth projects: Ji bo sê kes çay (preserving traditional Kurdish music); Through The Eyes of Children (highlighting American middle school students who speak out against youth violence); Ameen Mokdad’s The Curve (highlighting musical oppression by extremists in Iraq); Jaipur to Cairo (underrepresented composers/genres of the Middle East); and Rosegarden of Light (young musicians of Afghanistan). Current projects include Contemporary Ukrainian Composers (commissioning composers inside Ukraine in 2022/23) and an album of music recorded in 2023 by Afghan musicians who are in hiding inside the country. Our albums have been published on Naxos, Toccata Classics, Métier, and Arkadash. The quality of our work has been praised around the world, with airtime on NPR, BBC, and reviews by Fanfare. Cuatro Puntos Ensemble has performed extensively throughout the United States as well as in Bolivia, Brazil, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, and Afghanistan as they work alongside underrepresented musicians. Tracks from our albums have been included on the soundtrack for films produced in England, Australia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and our organization has presented at prestigious universities such as New England Conservatory (Boston), Columbia University (New York), Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (Germany), and Goldsmiths College (London). We invite you to visit our website to to experience our projects. You may interact by attending a live concert, listening to our albums, or searching our Monday Music video archives.
