Joelle Khoury

Joelle Khoury
Background information
Born Beirut, Lebanon
Genres Jazz, Contemporary classical music
Occupation(s) Pianist, Composer, Instructor.
Website

Joelle Khoury is a Lebanese-American[1] pianist and a jazz and contemporary classical music composer.[2]

Background

Born in Beirut (1963), 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, Virginia. Returning to Lebanon several years later, she got a Master's degree in philosophy at 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), Czech Republic (2006),[3] Switzerland (2011, through Pro Helvetia)[4] and the United-States (2013) as a MacDowell Colony fellow, where she worked on her multimedia performance Palais de femmes.[5]

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 towards contemporary music within complex jazz forms and non-traditional classical music structures. Rather than “orientalizing” her music, – as a Lebanese composer – she always thought that “ A true composition is the fruit of a unique idea, developed into a concept, based in what the composer has heard, aiming at expressing an individual point of view, a certain personality. Therefore it is neither “western” nor “oriental”, taking into account the fact that we have all heard numerous styles of music […]”.[6]

Her interest in philosophy led her, after years of musical production, towards the preparation of a PhD thesis on Gilles Deleuze.

Major achievements

In 1995, she founded In-version, a jazz quintet performing original compositions which combine a contemporary bebop style with complex counterpoint lines. Tunes as Circles, Is it so!, Just when you least expect (from the album Is it so!) are typical examples of how melodies evolve on backing composite lines, which are as fundamental as the melody itself. The same concept is also encountered in some classical contemporary arrangements of the composer, with very complex and intricate backing lines, though smoothly supporting the simplest melodies.

An arabic opera monodrama for woman's voice (sung by Fadia Tomb El Hage), composed in 2008 and first played in Beirut by the Belgian chamber orchestra, Fragments ensemble was also performed May 4, 2012, at Esterházy Palace, Eisenstadt, Austria, by Kremerata Baltica (founded by Gidon Kremer in 1997) and in Switzerland, by TaG ensemble.[7]

Arabic traditional songs, rearranged on a contemporary classical music basis. Variations on Imaginary Folk Dances (string orchestra and voice) was commissioned by Kremerata Baltica for their 2012 concert, Arab-Baltic Spring, at Esterházy Palace, Eisenstadt, Austria.[8] In 2014, the piece was performed again on May 29 in Furth and in Würzburg, Germany, by the Kremerata, along with the piece Of Memories, Folks and I (string orchestra, percussion and voice).[9] Both pieces are based on Middle Eastern folk music, and yet expressed in contemporary style, rendered by the Lebanese alto Fadia Tomb El Hage. The 2014 concert was live-streamed by the Bayerischer Rundfunk. A symphonic version of these two pieces has also been performed May, 2013, by the Lebanese National Symphony Orchestra at Saint Joseph University church, Beirut.

Morning Star is another arabic traditional church song, rearranged for brass quintet and commissioned by Donne in Musica,[10] Italy, for a Christmas concert (Natale in Musica 2006). Donne in Musica also commissionned Getting along, a concerto for two marimbas and string orchestra, performed May 2008 in Bari, Italy.

Multimedia performances: A number of performances and recordings consisting of poems put into music (Music and poetry, recorded live in May, 2003) or played in contemporary performances which gather poetry, acting, music and painting; among which are Senghor,[11] Électroésie[12] and Les poètes témoignent.[13]

Khoury has also published articles, including Die Geschichte - Ein göttliches Gedicht ("History, a divine poem"),[14] associating Bach's compositional style to Leibniz's Monadology.

Albums

Jazz

Classical and opera

References

  1. ↑ "Who is She in Lebanon ?".
  2. ↑ "Brunel Institute for Contemporary Middle Eastern Music".
  3. ↑ Milkwood Artist Residency, in collaboration with Freemuse International, Freedimensional, and Milkwood residencies.
  4. ↑ Winterthur, Villa Strauli.
  5. ↑ The multimedia performance Palais de femmes, is a mixture of soundtrack, pre-recorded film, live music and dance. Its title is inspired by the salvation army-funded institution, Palais de la femme, which gives shelter to women in need. Performances took place at Montaigne theatre, French Cultural Center of the French Embassy in Beirut, October 2 & 3, 2014. See the article Women who shelter in their art, published in the print edition of The Daily Star and its website (October 02, 2014, p. 16) .
  6. ↑ Burkhalter, Thomas (2013). Local music scenes and globalization; Transnational Platforms in Beirut. First published 2013 by Routledge, 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN.: Routledge studies in ethnomusicology. Taylor & Francis. p. 5. A true composition is the fruit of a unique idea, developed into a concept, based in what the composer has heard, aiming at expressing an individual point of the view, a certain personality. Therefore it is neither “western” nor “oriental”, taking into account the fact that we have all heard numerous styles of music […].
  7. ↑ Ich mache keine Konzessionen. Ich mache Musik. Zeitgenössische Musik im Libanon: Über die erste Oper in arabischer Sprache von Joëlle Khoury. Neue Muzikzeitung, Ausgabe: 10/2008 - 57. Jahrgang .
  8. ↑ Arab-Baltic Spring, Esterházy Castle, Austria. Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), Gidon Kremer's Kremerata Baltica and the Esterházy Private Foundation, brought contemporary classical music from the Arab-Baltic region; performed at the Haydn Hall of Esterházy Castle.
  9. ↑ Arab-Baltic Spring, Germany concert, May 2014.
  10. ↑ Fondazione Adkins Chiti: Donne in Musica (Women in Music) is an organization created by musicologist and opera singer Patricia Adkins Chiti. Its mission is to promote and support woman composers and songwriters of all nationalities.
  11. ↑ Multimedia performance based on Senghor poetry, commissioned and sponsored by Lebanese Ministry of Culture and French Cultural Center, Beirut. Dec. 28, 2006.
  12. ↑ Multimedia performance for voices, electronics, piano, saxophone and cello, based on texts by Lebanese poets: Jad Hatem, Rita Baddoura, Lougal Jazzar, Antoine Boulad, Etel Adnan, Gabriel Naffah, Georges Schehadé and commissioned by the French Cultural Center Beirut, June 2007.
  13. ↑ Electroacoustic music to accompany poetry recital, commemorizing the various Lebanese wars. Performed on March 21, 2008, in the occasion of Printemps des Poètes and commisionned by Organisation internationale de la Francophonie and the Lebanese Ministry of Culture (Monot theatre, Beirut)
  14. ↑ Khoury J., Die Geschichte - ein göttliches Gedicht; Theologie in Noten; Werkersclieβungen und Reflexionen. Wolfgang W. Müller (Hg.), 2015, Grünewald.
  15. ↑ Meinenger trio, "Mating calls Lockrufe"; Recorded October 2013. Günter Hänssler, NAXOS.

External links

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