Milad Yousufi
Milad Yousufi was born in 1995 during the civil war in Afghanistan. At that time the Taliban were ruling Afghanistan, and music was completely banned. At the age of two he started drawing. He drew the piano keys on paper and pretended to play.
Milad Yousufi is a pianist, composer, conductor, poet, singer, painter and calligrapher. Yousufi’s work is deeply inspired by his country and culture.
When the Taliban rule was lifted after a period of five years, the arts flourished in Afghanistan, and Yousufi took advantage of every opportunity to learn and study music and art. By the age of 12 he was teaching painting and was able to attend the one and only music school in Kabul. After only three years of formal piano training, Yousufi was one of four students accepted into a music program in Denmark; He was also chosen to represent Afghanistan at various music festivals in The Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, and Germany. He placed third in the International Golden Key competition in Frankfurt, Germany.
Upon his return to Afghanistan, Yousufi concentrated on teaching piano, theory, and a course of music notation program (Sibelius) at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music.
In 2011 The Afghan Youth Orchestra was formed. Yousufi was the pianist and then became the first Afghan conductor and arranged music for their performances. In 2013 the orchestra made a U.S. tour playing sold-out concerts in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and New England Conservatory where he performed as a pianist.
Upon moving to the United States, Yousufi was awarded a full scholarship to attend Mannes School of Music as an undergraduate and studied piano with the world-renowned pianist Simone Dinnerstein. Yousufi had the opportunity to study jazz piano and improvisation with Uri Caine, orchestration with Rudolph Palmer, music arrangement with Jacob Garchik and Matt Haimovitz and film music with Micheal Bacon from the Bacon Brothers.Yousufi is under Simone Dinnerstein’s mentorship and considers Dinnerstein as one of his great inspirations.
Yousufi has graduated from Mannes School of Music in spring 2020 and currently pursuing masters degree in composition under Dr. Dalit Warshaw’s mentorship at Brooklyn College.Yousufi has had the opportunity to compose for The New York Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, premiered at Lincoln Center; Refugee Orchestra Project; Kronos Quartet, premiered in Carnegie Hall; Worcester Music, South High Community School Brass Band, Terezin Music Foundation, premiered in Boston Symphony Hall. Refugee Orchestra, premiered at the Barbican Center in London, Pianist Yael Weiss for 32 Bright Clouds: (Beethoven Conversation Around the World), Winsor Music, Trio Solisti, Burncoat High School Orchestra, Worcester Chamber Music Society, Upcoming commissions include The VISION Collective, Cellist Leo Eguchi, Choral piece for Old Ship Church, Musaics of the Bay and Raleigh Civic Symphony Orchestra. Milad Yousufi is currently artistic advisor of The VISION Collective, became an ambassador for Arium TV and joined the board of directors Musaics of the Bay.
Yousufi has a dream to make a difference in the future of music and culture in Afghanistan.