Palestinian Vocalist Ali Paris in Concert at Bay View Lutheran Church

Bay View Lutheran Church welcomes vocalist and musician Ali Paris to Sturgeon Bay on Feb. 8 at 6:30 pm for an evening concert.

Ali Paris is a Palestinian vocalist from Ramallah who accompanies himself on the Arabic 72-string lap harp, the Qanun. His compositions fuse Arabic, Latin and jazz music.

Ali was honored with three advanced Marcel Khalife Competition Awards, including the National Heritage Award as Music Performer of the Year, 2004–2007. Since then, he has toured worldwide with different acts, including his own group, Ali Amr Experiment. Ali began playing the Qanun and singing at the age of five at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music and was discovered at the age of 13 by Arabic music virtuoso Simon Shaheen.

Ali graduated from Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music, then touring the United States for two months, starting at the United Nations in New York, ending with an audience of 85,000 at San Antonio’s Alamo Dome. Grammy-winner Quincy Jones invited Ali to perform with the Global All-Stars at Festival de Peralada in Spain. He has performed at Boston Symphony Hall, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center of Performing Arts, the Hollywood Bowl, Madrid’s Auditorio Nacional, Koerner Hall in Toronto, Monterey Jazz Festival, Istanbul Jazz Festival and Middle East Music Festival.

A freewill donation will be collected at the door so Ali can complete his studies for a master’s degree. Checks can be made out to Ali Amr.

Bay View Lutheran Church is located at 340 W. Maple St., Sturgeon Bay. For more information call 920.743.4705.