Bashar Issa

Maestro Bashar Issa is a musician, choir conductor, lecturer, researcher, writer, and community activist, with more than 25 years of experience in musical leadership, education and training, team and cultural and community project management, partnership building, and international cooperation. He holds a Higher Bachelor's degree in Music from the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus, as well as a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Civil Engineering from Damascus University. He worked as a trumpet player in the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra, conductor of the Academic Professional Choir, and professor of Aesthetics, Philosophy of Art, and Music at the Higher Institute of Music.

Since moving from Damascus to Tartous in 2015, he founded the Friends of Music Association and the "Arjuan Choir," with its four choirs for children, adolescents, adults, and women. It has become one of the region's leading community choir projects. He has received international awards in choral conducting and is a member of the World Choral Music Federation / International Music Council and a Fellow of the European Choral Association. He has contributed to establishing international partnerships and twinning initiatives between the Arjuan Choir and artistic institutions in Europe. He currently serves as the Head of the Artists' Syndicate in Tartous.

His work focuses on using music, art, and culture to promote community participation, empower youth and women, and build social cohesion and spaces for dialogue.