Hussein Janmohamed - choir director, educator, composer, & vocalist

Hussein is a globally renowned inspirational musical director, choir conductor, composer, and educator passionate about vocal excellence, artistry, and community engagement. Hussein is known for his innovative use of vocal and choral arts as a medium for cultural dialogue, human connection, creative expression, and spiritual uplift. His collaborative and empathy-based approaches foster friendly environments for knowledge sharing, self-discovery, cooperation, and forging connections across cultural divides. Hussein grounds his work on Ismaili and global traditions that inspire a spiritual quest and search for peace, unity, cooperation and creativity to better society. His childhood experiences in Ismaili community-based singing activities combined with his formal musical training in band and choir merge to shape Hussein's practice that build on these traditions.

Participating in Ismaili artistic recitals of ginan, dhikr, and stuti with the Jamat, as well as in advanced level choirs and bands in school, enabled Hussein to have experiences of spiritual resonance, resilience, and belonging. These feelings of connection and unity inspired him to learn more about music, and to creatively explore how to merge traditions to benefit others. Encouraged by his family, community, and teachers to pursue the arts, Hussein eventually learned how to harness the strengths of spiritual recitations and choir music to produce compositions, musical concerts, collaborations, and educational experiences that would allow others to also access the power of spiritual sound and vocal music in their lives.

Hussein has sung with the professional and advanced level choirs under the directions of internationally renowned master conductors. Choirs include Elmer Iseler Singers as the James T. Chesnutt Choral Scholar, All Saints Kingsway Anglican church choir, Chor Leoni Men's Choir, Laudate Singers, UBC University Singers, National Youth Choir and the Alberta Youth Choir. He was the inaugural co-conductor of Cor Flammae and has conducted the Douglas College Chorus, Vancouver Peace Choir, UBC Choral Union, Willow Street Singers and the UBC Women’s and Chamber Choirs. Community choir engagements have also included work with the Nai Kids Choir, comprised of refugees and newcomers from Syria. Hussein’s choral music and community interests combined with his appetite to nurture pluralism and cultural identity led him to bring together several Ismaili Muslim Youth Choirs, which he had the honour of conducting in the presence of Mawlana Hazar Imam and various Canadian government officials. The choirs blended elements of music that have not historically been part of Ismaili tradition with others, affording youth the potential to develop a more integrated, confident, and outward-looking sense of themselves. Hussein has also conducted the Sarah McLachlan Children's Choir who appeared in the Young Artists for Haiti video with K'Naan and other Canadian recording artists. Hussein is the founder and artistic director of the Awaaz Ensemble, an a cappella ensemble of singers from diverse musical and cultural backgrounds dedicated to co-creation and musical dialogue through singing. Hussein was invited to conduct global Ismaili music ensembles to commemorate Hazar Imam’s 80th birthday and his Diamond Jubilee, where he led Ismailis from around the world to co-create a semi-composed, improvised soundscape weaving diverse spiritually-inspired ancestral traditions with contemporary musical textures.

Hussein's compositions explore the articulation of Ismaili humanistic traditions through multi-layered vocal music. He incorporates contemporary compositional techniques through rich vocal layers, resonating a vision for intercultural sound to be a container for contemplation, dialogue, and hope. Compositions include Sun on Water, incorporating ginan, Hindustani musical techniques; dhikr by the Amadeus Choir; and Nur: Reflections on Light, based on the Verse of Light from the Qur’an, by the Elmer Iseler Singers, commissioned by the Aga Khan Museum for the opening of the Ismaili Centre Toronto. Commission highlights include an eight piece musical series developed with communities in Toronto to celebrate public Ramadan Iftar Night celebrations. Other commissions include The Wedding for 18 choirs across North America, incorporating Gujarati geet and interfaith dhikr; Grateful Heart, based on Sufi dhikr and shukrana, for the Amabile Choirs of London; Mombasa Matatu Meditation for the Esoterics (Seattle) drawing on the Azan (Muslim call to prayer) and Quranic inspiration; and Gatherings (With Lil'wat First Nations writer Russell Wallace), by the Westcoast Sacred Arts Society (Vancouver) for a Tribute Concert for His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Hussein is a sought-after cultural connector delivering interactive choral based workshops on themes of identity, leadership, diversity, and community building. At the heart of his practice is participation of communities to co-create and be part of musical experiences that relate meaningfully to their own life experiences. Hussein has served community-based organizations as a consultant and music animator with groups such as the Aga Khan Museum Enlightened Encounters tour program, MABELLEarts, Jumblies Theatre, and St James Town Arts which collaborates with underserved communities and newcomers. Highlights of speaking engagements include TEDx Terry Talks at UBC, numerous music education conferences, and presentations for a variety of organizations worldwide. Hussein was invited by the University of British Columbia as a visionary thinker hosted by President Santa J. Ono.

Hussein is the first recipient of the BC Choral Federation Malcolm McDonald Youth Achievement Award for his distinguished service, community building, and inspirational leadership, and a two-time fellow of the Irene R. Miller and Anoush Khoshkish Fellowship in Music (University of Toronto) for research in building cultural understanding in music. Hussein holds a Bachelor and two Masters degrees in general music, choral conducting, and opera production. He is a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto. His research explores the musical dialogue between choral sound, dhikr, and ginan as a pathway for Ismaili youth to connect with and express their traditions anew. Personally, knowing the benefits and powerful impact of music, he is dedicated to work with people of all abilities, backgrounds, and ages to be inspired through excellence in choral music, and thereby to meaningfully contribute their collective strengths, diversities, and creativity to retell new cultural narratives.

Check out husseinjanmohamed.com