Acclaimed concert pianist and Founder of Dubai-based performing arts company, Encore! Amira Fouad is one of the leading Artistic Directors and performing arts executives currently based in the Middle East. An experienced, high level creative and cultural leader in the region, Amira has engaged her legendary work ethic at prestigious musical environments around the Globe for over 30 years. Specialising in Classical Music and the Arts, Amira’s company Encore! has inaugurated and artistically managed the hugely successful ‘Music in the Studio’ and ‘Global Notes’ monthly series of concerts and masterclasses, and now ‘Encore Presents’ launched in September 2024. In close partnership with Dubai Opera, since 2017, it has presented well over 140 musical events and collaborations.

Passionate about musical outreach in her community, especially for the next generation, Amira established the prestigious National Youth Orchestras of Dubai, the largest (over 160 young musicians) and most accomplished in the region, which has performed at the leading venues in the country including Dubai Opera’s main stage, Global Village and Emirates Palace. She also currently runs the award-winning Music Academy at Nord Anglia School International Dubai (NAS). The school has won the award for ‘Best Music Provision in the UAE’ at the Schools Compared National Award for two consecutive years.

As a very young and precociously talented performer from the age of five Amira was supported by a family with a great appreciation of music and the fine arts. Amira received her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees in Canada at Queen’s University and the University of Windsor respectively, where she studied on full scholarships. She was awarded grants from the Canadian government to study with the internationally renowned French pianist, Cécile Ousset in Paris and was subsequently awarded a full scholarship from the Royal College of Music (RCM) in London where she received her Master of Music degree studying under the eminent pedagogue and pianist Kendall Taylor. 

Amira has been heard at some of the world’s great concert halls such as Bösendorfer Hall in Vienna, Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto, Usher Hall in Edinburgh, The National Concert Hall in Dublin, Cairo Opera House, Dubai Opera, St. John’s Smith Square, Cadogan Hall and Wigmore Hall in London.

Amira has also performed with various orchestras internationally such as the English Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Cairo Symphony Orchestra.  She is also a published musical artist, her Wigmore Hall recording, Portraits: A Pianist’s Journey, was received to great critical acclaim from The Piano Journal. Her latest CD with the English Chamber Orchestra includes a live recording of the piano concerto ‘El Hedeiya’ written for her by the acclaimed British composer, David Heath as well as chamber music with the LSO principal oboist John Anderson and soprano Angela Tunstall.