Gabriel Yared, composer

Oscar-winning composer Gabriel Yared was born in 1949 in Beirut but spent much of his early career in France.

He began film scoring in the late 1970s, and won an Oscar for his acclaimed score for the adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize-winning novel 'The English Patient' in 1996.

His scores since then include City of Angels and Minghella's 'The Talented Mr. Ripley'.

Yared studied law at USJ for three years where, he says, his only pleasure was to go the church opposite to play the organ. His teacher there was Bertrand Robillard, the organist at USJ who also taught Toufic Succar, Boghos Gélalian and the Rahbani brothers.

Today he lives on the remote island of Iona off the English coast. 'I was born by the sea in Beirut and I loved the climate, although I prefer it here where at least the air is cleaner,' he says. Nor has Yared forgotten his roots, and returned to Lebanon with his family in 1998. 'The rhythms of the music of Lebanon always stayed with me, in my heart, in my soul,' he says. 'I don't think I have lost my oriental side - it has just evolved a little differently in the west.'