Albasri.com - Biography

Yusuf SMS Albasri - a biography

Yusuf Albasri was born on 12 November 1982 in the town of Jarrow, near Newcastle in North-East England. Being of mixed blood, the Albasri family moved to the Middle East when he was one. His early school life was spent in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, returning to England for the vacations. His first exposure to music was of traditional Arab style, microtonal and motor-rhythmic influences which he would love to return to as a source of musical reference.
He returned to Jarrow at the age of ten following the onset of the Gulf Crisis and was enrolled into Simonside JMI School. It was here, with thirty minutes peripatetic teaching a week, that he begun to learn viola. In 1994 aged twelve, he attended Springfield School, again in Jarrow and renowned for its music department. He continued to learn the viola as well as teaching himself double-bass, basic piano skills and later, percussion. It was here, overseen by Ernest Young, that he took an interest in composition. His first attempts were arrangements of folk tunes and Christmas carols for violin and viola and later for string quartet.
	On the performance side, he played for the school string orchestra, string quartet (later string trio), wind band and community wind band. He took part in numerous concerts around Great Britain and abroad, including: Newcastle City Hall, the Millennium Dome and tours to the Netherlands, Germany, France and Luxemburg.
	Whilst still at Springfield School, he played for a number of other orchestras and ensembles, including the Bede Wind Philharmonic, one of Britain's last surviving wind bands. Here he played double bass and later, percussion.
Aged fourteen, he joined Young Sinfonia, the youth orchestra of Northern Sinfonia, where he played principle viola until 2001. Because of the extremely high standard of the orchestra, he was able to take part in challenging repertoire including Stravinsky's 'Firebird', 'The Planets' by Holst and specially commissioned works by modern composers. The orchestra performed throughout the country, with high profile appearances including the British Festival of youth orchestras (Glasgow + Edinburgh), a televised performance of Prokofiev's 'Dance of the Knights' from Romeo and Juliet in the 'Stadium of Light' (Sunderland) with an audience of thousands. The Sinfonia toured the Czech Republic, France, Germany and Switzerland and were broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and ITV1. During this period, he played for many other orchestras and ensembles in the Newcastle area, including his county youth orchestra and Tyneside Chamber Orchestra.
	Aged sixteen he begun A-levels (Music, Physics, Chemistry, Maths) at South Tyneside College. He enjoyed his A-level courses and studied further composition as part of his Music A-level. Here he experimented with different ideas, including aleatory, electronic and serial techniques as well as combining items of different genre. His works at the time were written mainly for friends and colleagues. However, he had difficulty finding players of the appropriate standard with enough time to learn and perform his work. Yusuf Albasri is currently studying Physics (MSci) at University College London, a subject he hugely enjoys.
	Works to date: 3 String Quartets 2 String Trios 2 works for Viola and Piano 2 works for Piano 2 Songs for Soprano and Piano 2 Wind Ensemble Suites Solo Cello Suite ~ Suite for Wind Band * Suite for String Orchestra ~ Dance Suite for Orchestra ~ Snare Drum Duet ~ * Commission in progress for Bede Wind Philharmonic ~ Works in progress