Cellist and composer IAN MAKSIN has gained international recognition for his beautiful tone, his own unique innovative style of playing the instrument and for taking the cello well outside its conventional role. His latest album Zaria was released in April of 2017 and features folk music from Armenia, Georgia, Iran, Belarus and Macedonia, Maksin’s original compositions inspired by tango, flamenco, Balkan music, shamanic rhythms and slavic pagan chants, as well as Maksin’s tribute to music of Jacques Brel, Bill Withers and Russian rock Boris Grebenshchikov. Although still very active as a classical artist, Ian Maksin’s latest focus has shifted towards blending many styles together: jazz, blues, rock, and world music, blending many styles together using cello as the common denominator. He can often be heard and seen in collaborative projects with artists from different corners of the globe: Palestine, Israel, Morocco, Cuba, Serbia, Iran, Pakistan, India, Spain, Mexico, Japan, just to name a few. As a guest artist, he has performed and recorded with such artists as Andrea Bocelli, P. Diddy, Snoop Dogg, Gloria Estefan and Barry Gibb. He has also opened performances for Sting and his guitarist Dominic Miller.