Our Conductor

Dr. Ghyas Zeidieh

French-born Syrian conductor and cellist, Dr. Ghyas Zeidieh is an active musician and educator in the Iowa and Utahn. Zeidieh serves as the musical director for both the Dubuque Symphony Youth String Ensemble and Philharmonia.

He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts and master’s from the University of Iowa, writing on the Cello Concerto of Syrian composer, Nouri Iskandar, and his bachelor’s in music and dentistry from the Damascus Conservatory and University.

An advocate for education, Zeidieh has completed the entire training of the Suzuki Association of the Americas teaching method and was previously the Instructor of Cello at Western Illinois University, where he was a member of the Julstrom faculty String Quartet.

An active orchestral musician, Ghyas has played with many orchestras in the Middle East, including the National Syrian Orchestra, Syrian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Arab Youth Orchestra, and the Euro-Med Orchestra, and can be heard on several Syrian film scores.

Dr. Zeidieh has performed with numerous American ensembles including the National Geographic Midwestern Tour (MN and IL), Revival Theater Company (IA), Theater Cedar Rapids (IA), Dubuque Symphony (IA), Quincy Symphony (IL), and the Dirt Road Ensemble (NH). Since 2010, he has been involved with the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music in N.H, serving as playing for peace participant, counselor and camp director.