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.