Bandleader Chris McKhool is a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal recipient for his work creating community through music. A proud contributor to Hamilton's cultural sector, McKhool produces, composes and performs with BILLBOARD charting SULTANS OF STRING, who’s six CFMA winning CDs have hit #1 across Canada in the Top Ten World radio charts, and earned 3 JUNO Award Nominations for Instrumental and World Album of the Year.

"As a child of immigrants from the Middle East, (McKhool would have been pronounced Makhoul in ancestral Kfirmishki Lebanon) I realize that by telling our stories, we help shape our own understanding of what it means to be Canadian"

With Sultans of String, McKhool also won the SiriusXM World Music Award, Festivals & Events Ontario’s Best Variety Act, two Ontario Independent Music Awards, and six Canadian Folk Music Awards out of eleven nominations. Sultans of String have performed at the legendary club Birdland in New York, the renowned Celtic Connections Festival in the U.K. and the San Jose Jazz Festival. They have performed with symphonies across Canada and the U.S., and played live on BBC TV, Irish National Radio, and SiriusXM in Washington DC.

McKhool has recorded and performed with several jazz, world, folk and pop artists including Béla Fleck, Jesse Cook, the Chieftains, Richard Bona, Ruben Blades, Club Django, and Crystal Shawanda. He won Producer of the Year for the 2021 and 2023 Canadian Folk Music Awards.

Additionally, McKhool is also one of Canada’s hottest musicians for young people. Chris has been touring the world with his children’s concerts for two decades, reaching over 1 million children live in concert, and has appeared on Mr. Dressup, YTV’s Treehouse, TVOntario’s Crawlspace and the CBC. A champion of environmental issues, Chris created the world’s largest bicycle bell orchestra in 2008, at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto with over 800 bell ringers!