The Curve
A Film by Rifqi Assaf
World Premiere Dubai International Film Festival 2015
Composer and Orchestrator: Suad Bushnaq
Oboe: Dom Kelly | London
Accordion: Tom Szczesniak | Toronto
Bouzouki: Chronis Vasiliou | Chapel Hill
Strings: Watariyyat Souria (Syria String Ensemble) | Damascus
Live String Recording: Hazem Jabbour | Gaya Studios | Damascus
Music Mixer: Tristan Capacchione | Banff

©2015 All Rights Reserved.

The Road to Jenin | Hollywood Music in Media Award Nominee 2018

Suad Bushnaq is a prolific, musically multilingual film and concert composer whose music has been hailed as 'reflective and touching' (BBC The Arts Hour), 'rich and accessible' (Klarafestival, Belgium), and 'beautiful as the sadness of the night and the joy of the daybreak (Arab music legend Marcel Khalifeh, on her piece 'The Road to Jenin').

Bushnaq has composed short and feature length film scores for a number of award-winning filmmakers. Her music has been heard at prestigious festivals including the Dubai, Seattle, and Edinburgh International Film Festivals to name a few, earning critical acclaim.

Her concert music has been performed in Europe, Canada, the United States, and the Middle East, and is listened to internationally. It includes works for solo, ensemble, choir, orchestra, and electroacoustics. Her orchestral works include a commission by 'ensemble mini' to create an Arabic-infused arrangement of Bartók's Rumänische Orchestertanz, as well as her Hakawaty (The Storyteller) Suite for Orchestra; an original composition of which select movements were performed by the Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra to sold-out shows at the Berlin Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Berlin, Malmö Live Konserthus, in addition to the BOZAR along with the National Orchestra of Belgium. Her music has also been performed by the Orquesta Ritornello, the Friedenauer Kammerensemble, and will be performed by the reputable Vermont Symphony Orchestra in December 2017. It is worth mentioning that Bushnaq is the one who orchestrates all of her compositions. Her discography includes Thoughts, From the Heart, and the soundtrack album for The Curve. 

An Arab-Canadian born to a Syrian mother and a Bosnian-Palestinian father, Bushnaq is one of a handful of Arab women composers in the world. She earned an entrance scholarship award from the world-renowned music composition program at Canada's top music school, McGill University, where she completed a Bachelor in Music Composition ('09). She is a member of both the Screen Composers Guild of Canada and the Alliance for Women Film Composers, and completed four years of her music education at the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus, Syria.

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