Layth
Born in Iraq and raised in Jordan, Layth picked up the violin at the age of four and started his musical training at the National Music Conservatory with Timur Ibrahmiov, and later at the Chetham's School of Music in Manchester/UK.
Upon graduation, Layth moved to Boston to pursue his college education at the Berklee College of Music where he received a full-tuition scholarship and graduated with a bachelor degree and recently obtained his masters degree from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute where he was mentored by artist such as Danilo Perez, John Patitucci, Terri Lyne Carrington, Joe Lovano and Marco Pignataro.
During his life, Layth had the honor of performing all around the world as well as working with many acclaimed artists, including Simon Shaheen, Jack Dejohnette, Jose Merce, Shankar Mahadevan, Javier Limon, Gary Burton and A.R Rahman, to name a few.
He has also performed both as a leader and as a sideman in venues like the Boston Symphony Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Concertgebouw hall, the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Festival Hall, as well as the Abu Dhabi festival, the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival and the premier of his original compositions at the Montreal Jazz Festival with his sextet.
Layth is now based in Boston where he currently directs the Arab music ensemble at Tufts University as well as being a sough-after violinist and composer in the US and abroad. Layth's first solo album 'Son of Tigris' is set to be released in the next coming weeks which is made up of his original compositions bringing together elements from Iraqi music and Jazz.