Cory Pesaturo recently performed for the second time in Ridyadh, Saudi Arabia for their winter concert series. Cory shares his amazing experiences including a video of his performances:

Cory Pesaturo writes: “For the 2nd time, I had the fantastic opportunity to be flown to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to perform in Riyadh for their winter concert series.  Just as it was last time, they called with less than 2 weeks left, and simply sent me some audio tracks to get an idea of the stylings and ornaments they would want but no sheet music – My Style of a gig! 

Once again, it was with a ginormous Orchestra, but the star of the show here was Angham; the biggest music star of Egypt.  For the music itself, as you’ll hear in the video, the chord changes were quite Western, so I was able to put my own chord changes above the music Just as I would on Jazz tunes, Balkan music, European or even Chopin.  The hard part, was how they played ornaments.


To my surprise, with all the musicians brought in from all over the world, only two were presented as stars of the Orchestra; myself and a Flamenco Guitarist from Spain.  On the final late night rehearsal (Concerts don’t even start until 10:PM so you can imagine the rehearsals!) the two of us were taken from the Orchestra with maestro conductor Hany Farahat to be given a preview of the the multi-million dollar recording building associated with the festival and theme park grounds. 

It is, as you can imagine with everything in the wealthy Arabic countries, Otherworldly.  No expense was spared.  One room after the next, with the highest quality equipment in every category in the recording world.  The particular video they made of us isn’t out yet, but I’m sure we will be back to record there!   

The concert went off without a hitch, maestro Farahat continuing his run for me of being the best conductor I’ve ever worked with or even seen, able to read to the music of 120 musicians, all who speak different languages on 40 different instruments, allowing for improvisations without set timings, and keeping the singer from losing where she is. All of this is accomplished while keeping the biggest smile on his face.   

There’s no stress, even though twenty million people are watching on Live TV to go along with the 7000 people sitting at the concert, and high government dignitaries right up front.  And the musicians around me?  Absolutely top notch.  It is of the greatest honors of my life to play here.  And yes; they treat Americans with immense respect, and it’s tremendous to now call so many of these people from Syria to Egypt to Saudi Arabia my friends.”

Editor: After the stunning event in Saudi Arabia, Cory performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra  on January 10, 2026 at Boston Symphony Hall in the Pulitzer Prize winning opera, “Vanessa”, by Samuel Barber which is Barber’s most famous opera. It was premiered in 1958 and is known for its lush melodies and emotional depth.

For further information: Cory.pesaturo@gmail.com