Milad Khawam is a Syrian composer from Damascus, playingthe trumpet and duduk. He studied classical and Arabic music at the Damascus higher education institute. Since 2010, Khawam has been the lead trumpet player in various orchestras in Europe and the Middle East and has also performed as a soloist at various festivals in Germany, where he moved in 2015, such as Morgenland-fest 2016. He has composed the original music for the short film “No monsters in Berlin”, which won the Jury Prize at DIVERSITY IN CANNES Short Film Showcase 2017. His compositions are played at various festivals in Germany, such as XJAZZ Festival Berlin 2018 and Fusion Festival 2018. In 2019, he performed as a soloist at Switzerland’s international Jazzaar ensemble, where he shared the stage with Billy Cobham on the drums. In the same year, he was commissioned by the Museum of Islamic Art to compose music for the era of the Abbasid dynasty in Iraq. From 2017, Khawam has been working on his first album “To the West” which will be released in April 2020 by XJAZZ Music Berlin.