Christine Berl

Christine Berl (born 1943) is an American composer, pianist, and Egyptian-style Oriental dancer. Biography Christine Berl is the daughter of Paul Berl, longtime accompanist of Victoria de los Ángeles. She was born in New York City, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in piano from Mannes College of Music in 1964. She continued her education at Queen’s College, graduating with a Master of Arts degree in composition in 1970. She also studied Schenkerian studies with Ernst Oster and Carl Schachter. As a dancer, she studied ballet for many years in New York with Russian teachers Vera Nemtchinova and Vladimir Dokoudovsky. Then she studied Egyptian-style Oriental dance for many years with the famous Egyptian choreographer Yousry Sharif, as well as with choreographer Mahmoud Reda in Cairo. Career Berl’s music has innovated what she calls a Chakra form, arrived at using serial techniques and interval cycle theory connected to the Passacaglia form. “Elegy” (1974) is completely in this form, “The Lord of the Dance” (1989) ends with a chakra and there are several chakras in “Masmoudi” for violin and piano (2012). She has served as artistic consultant for Tirreno Records. Peter Serkin