Naseem Alatrash: Bright Colors on a Dark Canvas

Visit:

https://www.alatrashmusic.com

From Musical Memoirs:

Naseem Alatrash, cello/composer; Chase Morrin, piano; George Lernis, percussion; Bruno Raberg, acoustic bass; 1st Violins: Bengisu Gokce, Lilit Hartunian, Greta Myatieva, Heeyeon Chung, & Aija Reke. 2nd Violins: Eric Mrugala, Liubomyr Senyshyn, Helen Sherrah-Davies, & Miyu Imai. Violas: David Wallace, Anna Stromer & Raymond Dineen. Mina Kim & Naomi Steckman, cellos. Conductor: Eugene Friesen.

Since 2021, Naseem Alatrash has been the cellist for the GRAMMY Award-winning Turtle Island Quartet. He is an extraordinary cellist, an outstanding composer and educator. His artistry embraces the Arabic music heritage, contemporary European classical music and it is fused with jazz traditions.  This makes for an unusual, but very artsy world music production.  This entire album is a suite of music for cello, piano, percussion and string orchestra.  Naseem Alatrash has composed every song.

From 5 Finger Review:

There are albums built around style, and there are albums built around voice. Bright Colors on a Dark Canvas, the debut release from Palestinian cellist and composer Naseem Alatrash, belongs firmly to the latter category. Across seven interconnected movements, Alatrash transforms the cello into something more intimate than a solo instrument and more fluid than a traditional orchestral lead. Throughout the album, the cello behaves like a narrator, singing, grieving, remembering, and searching its way through a suite rooted in Arabic maqam traditions, contemporary chamber orchestration, and improvisational dialogue.