Issa Boulos serves as the Program Director of the Community Music and Arts Center at Harper College at which he directs the Chicago World Music Ensemble and teaches various courses. He founded the Issa Boulos Ensemble to perform original compositions. Boulos incorporates traditional instruments in innovative ways. He has composed music for orchestras, chamber groups, ensembles and traditional maqam ensembles. The Chicago Symphony, Qatar Philharmonic, Youth Symphony of Bremen, and Palestine National Orchestra have commissioned his compositions. He set original scores for numerous documentaries including the award-winning “Nice Bombs” and PBS’s “The New Americans.” He has performed and delivered concerts, workshops, master classes and lectures at American and international institutions and universities. As researcher, Boulos fosters understanding about world music. He received awards from the Illinois Arts Council, the A. J. Racy Fellowship for Studies in Ethnomusicology, and the Norwegian Fund for newly composed works. He obtained a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from Leiden University. He was previously a lecturer at the University of Chicago and the Head of Music at the Qatar Music Academy.