The Longing String with Philip Graulty and Dimitris Mahlis

Join us for The Longing String, a meditative concert that explores the deep musical kinship between the oud and the classical guitar. LA-based musicians Dimitris Mahlis and Philip Graulty bring their artistry and friendship to the stage, blending the oud’s haunting Middle Eastern tones with the classical guitar’s rich, melodic voice. Together, they journey through traditional melodies, original compositions, and improvised interludes, highlighting the two instruments and their shared roots. Akin to a vocal cord, the longing string that connects Mahlis and Graulty, oud and guitar, will sing!

The two friends decided that the answer

was a long, a longing!, string, with one end tied

to the mouse’s foot and the other to the frog’s,

so that by pulling on it their secret connection

might be remembered and the two could meet,

as the soul does with the body.

— Rumi, The Long String

DIMITRIS MAHLIS is a multi-instrumentalist and composer based in  Los Angeles.  

Since coming to LA, Dimitris' skills on oud, guitar and other stringed instruments have led him into a rich variety of performing and recording experiences with some of the best domestic and international artists in the Los Angeles area.

Dimitris has had the good fortune to receive training in both Western and Eastern musical systems. First at the Berklee College of music in Boston, later Oud and makam Studies in Istanbul Turkey With Master Necati Celik.  Dimitris’s playing  style on multiple instruments has been described as  Earthy, poetic, soulful and original. His compositions have set a standard for cross cultural pollination.

Some recording credits include the Oscar winning film "Argo" With composer Alexander Desplat.  "Huun Huur Tu" with Carmen Rizzo, "Vino" with Robi Draco Rosa,

"O Samanos" Dionisis Savopoulo-Thanasis Papakonstantinou, [recorded in Greece]  Dimitris also composed the music for the recent short film " Coffee and Sugar" and is featured on the soundtrack of the  recent films”The Angel” “The Algerian” and others. He has just finished Filming as part of the ensemble” The Mighty Mighty” for the upcoming PBS Special “Decoding Musical Tastes”

Dimitris has performed and toured throughout the world with artists such as Perla Batalla, A.R.Rahman, Axiom of Choice, Ebi Hamedi, Dionisis Savopoulos, Niyaz, Freddie Hubbard, Thanasis Papakonstantinou, Kevyn Lettau, Russell Ferrante and others.

 He has also performed in all the major venues in Los Angeles, including The Greek Theater, The John Anson Ford Theater, Disney hall, The Wiltern, Etc.

He composes all the original music for his projects including 6 albums with His duo project "Wahid" "Protoleia" with the Mahlis- Panos Project,  "Prana" with the trio Prana and "Aphrodite Moves On" with his electric guitar based quartet, Babaghanoush.  He is currently preparing a series of solo oud recordings for release.

Philip Graulty is a Los Angeles-based guitarist, composer, and educator whose musical world lies at the intersection of classical, jazz, and folk music traditions. His artistic practice explores music as a form of memorial, offering, and healing, and his unique approach to the guitar is informed by myriad styles including classical guitar, contemporary jazz, and fingerstyle blues.

Philip’s latest album, Still Life, released in May 2024, is a collection of pieces for solo guitar, each one dedicated to a different person in the artist’s life. As such, the album explores themes of friendship, longing, nostalgia, and love. The album’s title references our collective stillness during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the artist’s practice of finding stillness through playing the guitar during times of grief. Philip’s debut solo EP, Won’t You Help To Sing?, released in 2021, was created in response to the M**der of George Floyd. Inspired by the African proverb “When you pray, move your feet,” this collection of hymns and protest songs is meant to serve as both a call to prayer for victims of police violence and a call to action for racial justice.

In addition to his work as a solo artist, Philip is a co-founder of Bridge to Everywhere, a new music collective that explores connections between diverse musical traditions, and the guitar ensembles Los Angeles Electric 8 and Ikat Quartet. He is also a regular collaborator with the chamber group Salastina and the experimental opera company Four Larks.

Performance highlights include national and international presentations such as BBC Proms (with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales), Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Minimalist Jukebox Festival (with Glenn Branca’s electric guitar orchestra), Angel City Jazz Festival, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Boston Court Pasadena, Oakland Museum of California, Strathmore Guitar Festival, World Festival of Sacred Music, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, MicroFest, and the Solo International Performing Arts Festival in Surakarta, Indonesia.

Outside of performing and composing, Philip is a dedicated educator and social justice advocate. He is on the music faculties of Mount Saint Mary’s University and Cal Poly Pomona and is a teaching artist with Street Symphony, an arts nonprofit that utilizes music to create opportunities of human connection to homeless and incarcerated communities in Los Angeles.

Host or Publisher The Resonance Collective