The Mosaic Trio, representing musicians from the Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble, will perform traditional instrumental music from the Arabic, Armenian, Turkish, and Sephardic repertoire on Friday, July 21 at 5:30 p.m. The concert will be presented at the Silk Road Oasis located at the Chicago Tourism Center, 72 E. Randolph St. in downtown Chicago.

The Silk Road Oasis opened June 1 in the heart of downtown Chicago as the headquarters for Silk Road Chicago, a cooperative venture headed by internationally-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma. “The Silk Road Oasis has been a dream of mine because I believe that good things happen when strangers meet,” said Ma, the Silk Road Project's artistic director. The concert, sponsored by the Chicago Department of Cultural affairs, is offered to the public free of charge.

Members of the Mosaic Trio are Hicham Chami, Kim Sopata, and Douglas Brush. Chami is a Moroccan-born qanun performer who has studied qanun for twenty years. Chami is founder of the Mosaic Trio and the Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble, which have performed at the Chicago Cultural Center, Oriental Institute, Alliance Francaise, United Nations, Symphony Space, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Harvard University, Kennedy Center, Georgetown University, and numerous other cultural venues around the U.S. Chami also founded Xauen Music, an organization dedicated to preserving the heritage of classical Arabic, Armenian, Turkish, and Sephardic music, as well as the Heartland Seminars on Arab Culture.

Flutist Kim Sopata received her B.M. from Northwestern University and M.A. in Ethnomusicology from Bethel University in St. Paul. Her orchestral appearances include numerous performances with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, South Carolina Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra, and the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra. Sopata is also a flute educator, and maintains a Chicago-area studio.

Percussionist Douglas Brush received a B.M. with honors from Roosevelt University. He is active as a performer in the Midwest, writing and performing in a variety of settings including theatre, film, chamber music, ethnic music, and jazz. Brush is a founding member and leader of The Rhythmunity Ensemble, a world percussion ensemble; he also heads the percussion department at the Merit School of Music. He performs with Las Guitarras de Espana.

For information, please contact Xauen Music at 312-927-2746.