WMI Plus At Home - Wanees Zarour with Firas Zreik

WMI PLUS At Home experiences bring music from around the world into the comfort of your home. Renowned artists share their lives, instruments, and stories from their personal environments, bringing an intimacy and uniqueness to each event. These talks are led by fellow musicians, journalists, and ethnomusicologists. Live captioning will be provided during the event.

We are thrilled to provide these events for FREE. If you can donate any amount while registering for this event, it will help us to keep the music playing. THANK YOU!

Tueday, June 16, 2026 – 6 PM EST

Wanees website
Firas at Corpus Christi
REGISTER

WMI Plus At Home Experiences are free of charge, but you must register to reserve your space. You will receive an order confirmation once your registration is complete, which includes the link to the event. Only registered participants will receive email instructions on how to join the event via Zoom online. Bring your questions! The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session with attendees posting their questions electronically for live answers.

Wanees Zarour is an award-winning Palestinian-American composer and multi-instrumentalist, known for blending Arabic, jazz, classical, and global music traditions. He holds the position of Director of the Middle East Music Ensemble at the University of Chicago and Co-Director of the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra alongside Fareed Haque. This initiative, revived in collaboration with the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs, honors the musical heritages of Chicago’s immigrant communities. His septet, East Loop, focuses on the convergence of jazz and maqam, and recently released their debut album, Silwan, which offers a deeply personal exploration of memory, resilience, and a sense of belonging. 

Wanees previously joined us for a WMI Plus At Home session with Simon Shaheen.

Firas Zreik is a Palestine-born artist-composer, lyricist, and educator based in NYC.  He has transformed global perception of the Kanun. His treatment of the instrument preserves its identity as a vital part of the Maqam tradition, and stretches its potential as a cultural chameleon, enhancing a range of fresh, evolving sounds. He performs as a part of Simon Shaheen’s ensemble.

Firas also previously joined us for a WMI Plus At Home conversation with Ronnie Malley.