Lebanon on Music Theory Print

Bechara El Khoury (composer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Bechara El Khoury (born 18 March 1957 ) is a Franco-Lebanese composer. Biography Born in Beirut, he moved to Paris in 1979. Before his departure he was extremely active as a composer, pianist, conductor as well as Kapellmeister. He became a French national in 1987, and as a result many French institutions commissioned works for him like Orchestre de Paris, Musique nouvelle en liberté, Radio France, Festival Menuhin in Gstaad, Strasbourg Philharmonic, Mecklenburg Festival etc. He received the Prix Rossini (Institut de France) in 2000 and his work was performed by many orchestras. as the Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris, London Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg, Orchestre philharmonique du Liban, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Basel Chamber Orchestra … Among the musicians who conducted his music, Pierre Dervaux (who recorded “Danse des aigles, opus 9” with the Orchestre Colonne), Kurt Masur, Daniele Gatti, Paavo Järvi, Daniel Hard

Elias Zazi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Elias Zazi (born 1964 in Beirut, Lebanon) is a Swedish-Assyrian composer and a theorist in music. Zazi also teaches music and works as a music critic and writer to a daily newspaper in Södertälje, Sweden. History Elias began his journey as a discjockey in 1981 and two years later he won the title “Stockholm’s No 1 DJ 1983-1984” which was arranged by the in-spot place called Studion in St. Eriksplan in Stockholm. In 1985 his interest of Oriental music awakened. Elias Zazi who was raised in the sixties in Lebanon was already acquainted with the Arabic music and the Syriac Orthodox Church music. At the beginning of the eighties he began his studies of music and its essence. In 1994 he composed “Alfo Gabe D Howelan” (lyrics by Malfono Touma Nahroyo) which became a dance in the theatre group Ha Nison’s play called “Warm soup with politics”. In 1995-1996 he composed “The Dream Sonata”, the first Syriac musical operetta in two acts which played on the stage of Estrad, Södertälje in May 1996. After the Dream Sonata, Zazi began his studies of western music. He studied western music theories, harmonies, contra-point and more, and later he complemented his studies with sessions in composition

Hiba Kawas

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hiba Al Kawas (; born 17 July 1972) is a Lebanese operatic soprano, composer and academic. BIography Hiba Al Kawas was born on 17 July 1972 in Sidon, Lebanon, to a Sunni Muslim family. Career Composer Hiba Al Kawas has recorded 21 works of her own composition with the Dnipropetrovsk Symphony Orchestra-Ukraine under the direction of Vyacheslav Blinov, and 10 works with the Kraków Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Wojciech Czepiel. She has recorded 13 works with The National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine and the National Choir of Kyiv conducted by Vladimir Sirenko. In 2000, participated as a composer in the Kraków Contemporary Composition Festival, where the Kraków chamber Orchestra played her Aspiration No.1 conducted by Wojceich Czepiel. At her second appearance at the festival, her composition Moments in Krakow was given its world premiere by the Kraków Academy of Music conducted Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Wojceich Czepiel. Her orchestral work, Pleusis 1, which was premiered in 2000 by the Lebanese National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Harout Fazlian and by Wojciech Czepiel, has been played by the City of London Sinfonia, Cairo Symphony Orchestra

Joelle Khoury

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Joelle Khoury is a Lebanese-American pianist and composer of jazz and contemporary classical music. Background Born in Beirut, Joelle Khoury left Lebanon for the United States after the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War. She obtained a degree in Economics and Musicology at George Mason University in Virginia. Returning to Lebanon several years later, she received a master’s degree in philosophy from Saint Joseph University and a piano diploma from the Lebanese Higher Conservatory of Music. She has been invited on Extra-muros residencies in France (2002 and 2004), the Czech Republic (2006), Switzerland (2011, through Pro Helvetia) and the United States (2013) as a MacDowell Colony fellow, where she worked on her multimedia performance Palais de femmes. For almost two decades, she has composed contemporary classical music pieces and concertos for chamber and philharmonic orchestras, as well as pieces for her own jazz quintet. Her idea of composition, not restricted to specific standard styles, eras, geographical spaces or music categories stricto sensu, led her toward contemporary music within complex jazz forms and non-traditional classical music structures. Rather than “orientali

Layale Chaker

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Layale Chaker (; born 1990) is a French-Lebanese violinist and composer whose music integrates elements of classical, contemporary, jazz, Arabic music and improvisation. Music career She was born in Paris and moved to Lebanon at the age of 6. In 2005, Chaker began her musical studies at the National Higher Conservatory of Beirut. She later studied at the Conservatoire Régional de Paris beginning in 2010 and the Royal Academy of Music in London starting in 2017 with professors including Mohamed Hashem, Carmen Scripcariu, Jeanne-Marie Conquer and Nicholas Miller. She currently performs with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim. Chaker has performed at a variety of festivals and concert halls. Festival highlights include La Biennale di Venezia, Spoleto Festival, London Jazz Festival, Alderburgh Festival, Morgenland Festival Osnabrueck, Junger Kunstler Festival Bayreuth, Lucerne Festival for Contemporary Music, Impuls’ Festival, Beethoven Festival Bonn and Avignon Festival. She has performed at concert halls such as Berlin Philharmonie, Abbaye de Royaumont, Hancher Auditorium, Stone, National Sawdust, Banff Centre, Royal Albert Hall and Wigmore Hall. Her album Radio

May Matar

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

May Matar () is an Arabic singer, composer, and director. She was born in Kfaraakka, Lebanon, on October 8, 1987. Her debut single and music video “El Kawn Zghir” was released in 2007 and won an award from the Belarusian Academy in 2008. The same year, she released “Eh Gharali”, which she composed and recorded alone. The song was well received and exceeded the success of her debut, reaching Melody’s Top 20. “Ma fi Hada,” written by Nizar Francis and composed by Samir Sfeir was released in 2009, and reached number one. The following year, she released “Metlak Mesh Ayzin”, which was directed by Ziad Najjar. This song won the Best Social Song and Video Clip Award. In 2018, after her husband’s death, May performed a live concert at Gemmayze, where she released her first live-recorded album Kel shi bi zakerni fik on the label Anghami. She donated the proceeds from the concert to the Kids First Association. After taking a five-year break from video making, Matar published a single titled " Bla7za w Yawm", which was directed by Elie Berbary and reached the top five. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Matar released her music video “Wahidi”, which was directed by Valentina El khawand. “Wahidi”

Mohammed Flayfel

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Mohammed Flayfel (1899–1986; ) was a Lebanese composer and musician. Born in 1899 in the Ashrafiyeh neighborhood of Beirut, some of his notable compositions include “Mawtini” (the national anthem of Iraq and former national anthem of Palestine until 1996) and Suriyah, Ya Dhat al-Majdi (the anthem of the short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria). His “Humat ad-Diyar” was selected in a 1938 competition as the national anthem of Syria. He also worked on several other patriotic songs, occasionally in collaboration with his brother, Ahmad Salim Flayfel. Mohammed Flayfel is also credited for discovering the talents of a young Fairuz when she participated in a radio talent show and he advised her to enroll in the Lebanese Conservatory. He died in 1986. References

Omar Harfouch

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Omar Harfouch (; born 20 April 1969 in Tripoli, Lebanon) is a French-Lebanese composer and businessman. Owner of a communications group in Ukraine, he is known in France for his participation in the reality show I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of here! and for his many appearances at jet set parties, in videos, and in celebrity magazines. He is a regular donor and guest at AMFAR charity dinner in Cannes. Co-owner of the international TV channel HDFashion & LifeStyle. Owner of the French magazine Entrevue. Career in Ukraine Omar Harfouch is of Lebanese origin. In Kyiv, he and his brother Walid Harfouch own the Supernova media group which includes the FM radio in Ukraine, radio Supernova. Declaring that “the world of fashion needed a revolution,” he and Walid founded a Geneva-based company in charge of organizing beauty contests in Ukraine, in which the jury is composed of Internet users and voters. In 2023, Omar Harfouch, together with his wife, Yulia Harfouch, co-founded the international TV channel HDFashion & LifeStyle. He organized the Miss Europe competition with Endemol, initially presented on the French TV channel TF1, but the channel decided to sell it. In May 2006, after partic

Parsegh Ganatchian

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Parsegh Ganatchian (17 April 1885 – 21 May 1967) was an Armenian composer, conductor, and sociocultural activist. He is best-known for his part in arranging the music to Mer Hayrenik (Our Fatherland), the Armenian national anthem. He comes from a modest background; his father was a shoemaker. Career Ganatchian was born in Rodosto (present-day Tekirdağ), in the Ottoman Empire. In 1888 his family moved to Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), where he received his primary education in Gedikpaşa Armenian school. Hamidian Massacres forced the family to move to Bulgaria, through Sliven to Varna, where he studied music theory, took lessons in the violin and conducting lessons under the supervision of . In 1903, Ganatchian studied playing the piano and harmony in Bucharest, returning to Istanbul in 1908, where he formed the “Knar” wind orchestra (in Armenian «Քնար»). His meeting with Komitas Vardapet in December 1910 was a decisive milestone in his career. Ganatchian also established the , while continuing his education in harmony and conducting. In 1919, he conducted a concert dedicated to Komitas and his works with 300 singers and musicians. Starting in 1920, Ganatchian continued his m

Serouj Kradjian

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Serouj Kradjian (born in 1973) is a Canadian Grammy-nominated and Juno-winning pianist and composer. Early life and education Born in 1973, at fourteen earned a scholarship to study in Vienna, and was gaining accolades by the age of seven. He later studied with Marietta Orlov at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Piano Performance in 1994. He studied with Einar Steen-Nökleberg at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hanover, Germany, receiving a Solo Performance degree in 2001. Performances Kradjian has appeared with the Toronto, Vancouver and Edmonton Symphonies, Göttingen Symphony, Russian National Orchestra, the Armenian Philharmonic and the Thailand Philharmonic under the baton of conductors such as Bramwell Tovey, Peter Oundjian, Stéphane Denève, Eduard Topchjan, Gudni Emilsson and Raffi Armenian. Solo recitals, chamber music concerts and premieres of his compositions have taken Mr. Kradjian from all major Canadian cities, via the U.S – New York (Carnegie Hall), Boston (Jordan Hall), San Francisco, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles – to European concert halls in London (Wigmore Hall), Paris (Salle Cortot), Munich, Salzb

Wadia Sabra

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Wadia (Wadih) Sabra ( ; 23 February 1876 – 11 April 1952) was a Lebanese composer and founder of the Conservatoire Libanais. Life Wadia (Wadih) Sabra was born in 1876 in the village of Ain el Jdideh and died in Beirut in 1952. He married Adèle Misk in 1921 and had no children. He was buried in the Evangelical Cemetery in Sodeco Beirut. As a composer, his music is characterized as a blend of Western and Eastern musical languages, incorporating the strengths and charms of both traditions. He is best known today as the composer of the Lebanese National Anthem, popularly known as Kulluna lil Watan (words by Rashid Nakhle), which was officially adopted by the Lebanese Government through a presidential decree on 12 July 1927. He is considered the founding father of classical music in Lebanon. After studying at the American University of Beirut, he left for Paris in 1892, with a scholarship from the French Embassy to study at the Conservatoire de Paris. He stayed for 7 years where he studied with the musicologist Albert Lavignac. He took a job as the principal organist of the Evangelical Church of the Holy Spirit. He then returned to Beirut, where he founded, in 1910, the first School of