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Prominent Lebanese | Bechara El Khoury
Bechara El-Khoury, Composer and Poet
 A French-Lebanese composer and poet,
Bechara El-Khoury was born on 18 March 1957 in Beirut.
His artistic debut occurred very early on but it was not
until 1969 that he started serious music studies in Beirut under the direction of Agop
Arslanian while continuing advanced general studies. Since that time, he has devoted
himself to composing for piano, choir and orchestra. Between 1973 and 1976, he was
Kapellmeister at the Church of Saint Elias in Antelias near Beirut.
Since 1979 Bechara El-Khoury has been based in Paris where
he first took advanced lessons in composition with Pierre-Petit and since 1980 has been a
jury member for exams at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Musique de Paris. In 2000
Bechara El-Khoury received the Prix Rossini of the Académie des Beaux-Arts (Institut de
France) and in 2002 was appointed Knight of the National Order of the Cedar of Lebanon.
His catalogue includes some seventy works that have been
performed in various venues such as the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Salle Pleyel,
Théâtre du Châtelet, Radio France, Salle Cortot, Kiev Philharmonia, Cairo Opera House,
Noga Theatre of Tel-Aviv, Israeli Radio-Television and many more by orchestras such as the
Orchestre National de France, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Ukraine National Symphony, the
Orchestre Symphonique Français, and the Orchestre Colonne (Paris).
Some of El-Khoury's works have been commissioned by Radio
France, Musique Nouvelle en Liberté, the Orchestre Symphonique Français, the Ecole
Normale de Musique de Paris, Francophonie, and Shlomo Mintz Masterclasses to name just a
few.
Forthcoming concerts include his violin and piano
concertos, symphonies and symphonic poems, mainly in New York, Paris, Kiev and Moscow.
His symphonic music has first been recorded by Erato in
1983 and by Forlane in 1996.
In 2002, Naxos released a CD entirely devoted to his
symphonic music with the Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vladimir
Sirenko.
In 2003, Bechara El Khoury was
between the 6 finalists of the "MASTERPRIZE" THE WORLD'S LEADING COMPOSING
COMPETITION. Title of piece: Les Fleuves Engloutis
(Eternal Rivers). Audio: Click here to Listen to it
now. Masterprize aims to encourage classical music enthusiasts to listen more to new
music and to help living composers find a large international audience.
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