Mohammed Fairouz, born in 1985, is an Arab-American composer whose cosmopolitan outlook reflects his transatlantic upbringing and extensive travels. Since childhood, Fairouz has found musical inspiration in literary and philosophical sources. His first attempt at composition, at age seven, was an Oscar Wilde setting; since then, he has composed an opera, an oratorio, fifteen song cycles, and hundreds of art songs. His principal teachers in composition have included György Ligeti, Gunther Schuller, and Richard Danielpour, with studies at the Curtis Institute and New England Conservatory. He has served on the faculty at Northeastern University in Boston and several summer festivals, including SongFest and the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival.