Qasim Naqvi

QASIM NAQVI is a drummer, composer, and member of the group Dawn of Midi. Outside of his role in D.O.M., Qasim works on a variety of projects from electronic music, to composing for orchestras, chamber groups, dance and film.

His concert music has been performed/commissioned by The BBC Concert Orchestra, Jennifer Koh, The London Contemporary Orchestra, Stargaze, Crash Ensemble, The Now Ensemble, The Erebus Ensemble, yMusic, The Helsinki Chamber Choir, TEN PEN CHii, Nimbus Dance Works, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra(MusicNOW Season) and others. He has been a featured composer at the Musica Nova Festival in Helsinki, the Spitalfields Festival in London, Southbank Centre and the Rest is Noise Festival in Holland.

Qasim's soundtracks for film have appeared on HBO, NBC, PBS, The Sundance Channel, New York Times Op-Docs, VICE Media, at The Tribeca, Sundance, Toronto, Rotterdam and London Film Festivals, at dOCUMENTA 13 and 14, The Guggenheim Museum, The Tate Britain (Turner Prize 2018), MOMA P.S. 1, IDFA, Berlinale and others. He has worked with such notable filmmakers as Laura Poitras, Mariam Ghani, Marc Levin, Naeem Mohaiemen, Smriti Keshari, Prashant Bhargava and Erin Heidenreich.

Acoustic trio Dawn of Midi have released two albums. Their most recent – ‘Dysnomia’ – for Erased Tapes was acclaimed by Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Spin, The Guardian, The Quietus, Consequence Of Sound, Drowned In Sound and the New Yorker. Radiohead personally picked Dawn of Midi as their support band for two sold out concerts at New York's Madison Square Garden

Qasim earned his B.F.A in performance from Mannes / New School Jazz and Contemporary Music program and his M.F.A in composition and performance from California Institute of the Arts. He studied drums and performance with Andrew Cyrille, Joe Chambers, Reggie Workman, Buster Williams, Ralph Peterson Jr., Charlie Haden and Rashid Ali and composition with Wolfgang von Schweinitz, James Tenney, Morton Subotnick, Marc Sabat, Wadada Leo Smith, Michael Jon Fink and Anne LeBaron. He is a 2016 N.Y.F.A Fellow in Music and Sound and has received other fellowships and awards from Chamber Music America, The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Mid-Atlantic Arts Council, Harvest Works, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, S.T.E.I.M. and Art OMI.

Presently, Qasim lives in Brooklyn New York and works on a variety of projects as a freelance composer and drummer. He is represented by Erased Tapes Publishing.