Abdel Rahman El Bacha

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Abdel Rahman El Bacha , Arabic عبد الرحمن الباشا(Born October 23, 1958 in Beirut , Lebanon ) is a Lebanese pianist who is also a French citizen.

Abdel Rahman El Bacha, concert at the Théatre St. Victor-Mutualité, Paris. March 2, 2006

Life

Abdel Rahman El Bacha was born into a musical family in Beirut, his mother is a singer, his father a well-known composer. In an interview he said that his mother's oriental musical repertoire and the fact that she acquired it in an auditory way without written notes had a great influence on him; Just as important to him are the Arabic roots of his father and their fusion with occidental music. From 1967 he received piano lessons from Zvart Sarkissian , a student of Marguerite Long and Jacques Février . At the age of ten he played Johann Sebastian Bach's piano concerto in D minor with an orchestra. He received scholarships in England , the Soviet Union and France and decided to study at the Paris Conservatoire , which he graduated in 1977 with four prizes for piano, chamber music , harmony and counterpoint . A year later, in June 1978, he won the Brussels Competition Concours Reine Elisabeth in the piano category, following the unanimous vote of the jury, and at the same time the audience award. In 1983 he won the Grand Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros with his first CD, the recording of Sergei Prokofiev's early piano works , which was presented to him by the composer's widow. His numerous recordings include both volumes of the Well-Tempered Clavier by JS Bach and the 32 piano sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven .

Regarding the manner of his CD recordings, Abdel Rahman El Bacha emphasizes that it is important to him to record the compositions without corrections and cuts in order to make an uninterrupted arc of tension audible.

In 1981 Abdel Rahman El Bacha received French citizenship. In August 2007 he was awarded the Gold Medal of Merit by the President of the Lebanese Republic from his home country. He has lived in Switzerland since 2012.

Honors and prizes

Discography (selection)

  • Johann Sebastian Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier, Volume 1, Triton; 2nd volume, Octavia Records
  • Ludwig van Beethoven: all 32 piano sonatas, Mirare (two recordings at different times)
  • Frédérik Chopin: all works, Forlane
  • Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Works, Selection, Mirare

Sergei Prokofiev: Toccata op.11

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See French interview.
  2. ↑ See web link to life and work.
  3. ↑ See web link to life and work.
  4. ↑ See web link to life and work.
personal data
SURNAME El Bacha, Abdel Rahman
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bacha, Abdel Rahman El
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Lebanese pianist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH October 23, 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH Beirut , Lebanon