Joelle Khoury

Joelle Khoury

Background information
Born	Beirut, Lebanon
Genres	Jazz, Contemporary classical music
Occupation(s)	Pianist, Composer, Lecturer.
Years active	1995–present

Website	joellek.com/Joelle_content.html

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

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Background

Born in Beirut, 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 in Virginia. Returning to Lebanon several years later, she received a Master's Degree in Philosophy from 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), the 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 toward 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] In the same spirit, Khoury says: "I just like music that represents who I am right now, and I use any means I possess to create it. I am mainly a composer. I am as much into contemporary classical music as I am into jazz and electronics."^[7]

Her interest in philosophy led her, after years of musical production, to obtain a PhD. Her doctoral thesis on Gilles Deleuze is entitled Théâtralité et Désir de mort créateur chez Gilles Deleuze.

Notable works

In 1995, Khoury founded In-Version, a jazz quintet performing original compositions that combine a contemporary bebop style with complex counterpoint lines. Songs such 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 of Khoury's classical contemporary arrangements. They feature 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 Ensemble Fragments,^[8] was also performed on May 4, 2012, at Esterházy Palace, Eisenstadt, Austria, by Kremerata Baltica and in Switzerland by the TaG ensemble.^[9]

Her "Variations on Imaginary Folk Dances" for string orchestra and voice rearranged traditional Middle Eastern songs on a contemporary classical music basis. It was commissioned by Kremerata Baltica for their 2012 concert, Arab-Baltic Spring, at Esterházy Palace, Eisenstadt, Austria.^[10] The piece was performed again on May 29, 2014, in Fürth and in Würzburg, Germany, by the Kremerata, along with the piece "Of Memories, Folks and I" for string orchestra, percussion and voice.^[11] Both pieces, conducted by Andris Veismanis,^[12] 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 was also performed in May 2013 by the Lebanese National Symphony Orchestra at Saint Joseph University Church, Beirut.

"Morning Star" is a Syriac traditional church song, rearranged for brass quintet and commissioned by the Italian organization Donne in Musica^[13] for a Christmas concert (Natale in Musica 2006). Donne in Musica also commissioned "Getting Along," a concerto for two marimbas and string orchestra, performed May 2008 in Bari, Italy.

Multimedia performances include a number of performances and recordings of poems coupled with music (Music and poetry, recorded live in May 2003) or played in contemporary performances, which gather poetry, acting, music and painting. Examples include Senghor,^[14] Électroésie,^[15] Les poètes témoignent,^[16] and Palais de femmes.^[5]

Albums

Jazz

Tumbling up, In-Version, the Joelle Khoury Quintet. Compositions by J. Khoury, produced by Experimental art concept, 1999.
Is it so!, In-Version, the Joelle Khoury Quintet. Compositions by J. Khoury, produced by M. & J. Khoury, 2005.
Beirut Jazz 2020, In-Version, the Joelle Khoury Quintet. Compositions by J. Khoury, sponsored by Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, AFAC, 2020.

Classical and opera

Music and poetry, Eleven chamber orchestra and voice pieces, based on German romantic poetry (Goethe, Heine, Novalis, Rilke). Sponsored by the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music and the Goethe Institute, Beirut. J. Khoury, piano and composition; Harout Fazlian, conductor. Recorded live on May 14, 2003 at Pierre Abou-Khater auditorium, Saint Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon. Produced by La CD-Thèque & Joelle Khoury.
Dream she is, Arabic opera monodrama for woman's voice, composed for Fadia Tomb El-Hage. Work for Alto, five soloists, and electronics. Text excerpts from Jacques Aswad's poetry. Alto: Fadia Tomb El-Hage; Conductor: Harout Fazlian. Recorded live in Beirut and performed by Fragments ensemble, a Belgium chamber Music ensemble. Produced by Eka3 (www.eka3productions.com). Commissioned by the non-profit organization Quart de Ton a.s.b.l. Also performed in Austria by Kremerata Baltica, and in Switzerland by TaG ensemble.

Tracks in Albums

Arabian Fantasy In Blue , Piece for flute, cello, and piano. Commissioned by the Meinenger Trio and the German radio Bayerischer Rundfunk , 2013 .^[17]
Anta al Waheed (The one and only), Polyphonic piece based on poetry by Al Hallaj, mixing contemporary style with a vague flavor of oriental music, 2013.^[18]
Vers le Soleil Bleu, Masarat, Fadia Tomb El Hage sings Lebanese Authors and Composers, with Fragments Ensemble, Orlando Records, 2020.^[19]
Zarqa'a A Shamsu, Masarat, Fadia Tomb El Hage sings Lebanese Authors and Composers, with Fragments Ensemble, Orlando Records, 2020.^[20]

Other recordings and performances

Sleep, Text by James Joyce for choir, organ and timpani. Recorded live, this composition has been commissioned by the American University of Beirut Choral Society for the Living Lebanese composer's concert, which took place in 2004, Assembly Hall, American University of Beirut.^[21]
Soliloquy, a symphonic composition in three movements, written for the Lebanese National Symphony Orchestra and performed in May 2005, at Saint Joseph Church, Beirut. Conductor: Harout Fazlian.
Aaah!..., Text excerpts from Virginia Woolf's Between the Acts. This composition is dedicated to John Cage and was recorded live in 2006 in an open form composition concert at P. Abou Khater theatre, Saint Joseph University, Beirut. Sponsored by the Lebanese National Conservatory and the Fulbright Program, with Katharine Cartwright (vocals). Conductor: Harout Fazlian.
Alone Together 2, For qanun, cello and violin. This piece was commissioned by the Bayerischer Rundfunk and recorded in Nuremberg, April 2011.

Moods Rhythms and Changes, for 3 percussionists, cello and piano. Commissioned by Symblema Percussion, Paris, 2011.^[22]

Ala Dal'ona, A Middle Eastern folk song (four hands piano), performed in 2011 by Mimi Melkonian and Howard Aibel at Convent of the Sacred Heart (Connecticut), Greenwich, USA, and in 2017 at Brunswick School, Greenwich (Connecticut) within a concert entitled An Evening with Lebanese Composers.
Just Hold Me Tight, Solo violin by George Yammine.^[23] A piece mixing oriental scales and contemporary atonal music and recorded in December 2012, Beirut, Lebanon.

Tidbits, Series of short variations on an elusive theme by the viola, in its own turn inspired by a Middle Eastern chant, 2018.^[24]

Articles

Khoury has also published articles, including:

"Times Goes One Way - Against the Classification of Arts".^[25]
"Die Geschichte - Ein göttliches Gedicht" ("History, a divine poem"),^[26] associating Bach's compositional style to Leibniz's Monadology.
"The Body Without Organs... said the Eye to the Ear: Deleuzian thematics in Sophocles, Mann, Beckett and Süskind".^[27]

References

^ "Joelle Khoury". Who is She in Lebanon?. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
^ Zeina Saleh Kayali, Vincent Rouquès, Compositeurs Libanais XXe et XXIe siècle, Séguier, Paris, 2011.
^ Milkwood Artist Residency, in collaboration with Freemuse International, Freedimensional, and Milkwood residencies.
^ Villa Sträuli, Winterthur, Switzerland.
^ ^a ^b 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).
^ 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 […]{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^ Stein, Sammy (2018). Women in Jazz; The Women, The Legends and their Fight. Montreal, Canada - New York, USA: 8th House Publishing. p. 160. ISBN 978-1-926716-55-8.
^ "Ensemble Fragments - Ensemble de musique de chambre à géométrie variable". Ensemble Fragments. July 2008.
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ Kremerata Baltica event at wurzburg Arab-Baltic Spring, www.kremeratabaltica.com, Germany concert, May 2014
^ Andris Veismanis, conductor www.opera.lv
^ 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.
^ Multimedia performance based on L. S. Senghor poetry, commissioned and sponsored by Lebanese Ministry of Culture and French Cultural Center, Beirut. Dec. 28, 2006.
^ 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.
^ Electroacoustic music to accompany poetry recital, commemorating the various Lebanese wars. Performed on March 21, 2008, in the occasion of Printemps des Poètes and commissioned by Organisation internationale de la Francophonie and the Lebanese Ministry of Culture (Monot theatre, Beirut)
^ Meinenger trio, "Mating calls Lockrufe"; Recorded October 2013. Günter Hänssler, NAXOS.
^ Ateek (Troubadour), Music by Arab Contemporary Composers, 2013.
^ Vers le Soleil Bleu YouTube link of the track.
^ Zarqa'a A Shamsu- YouTube link of the track.
^ Khoury, Joelle (2004). "Modern Atonalities Ring Out at the Spring Concert". American University of Beirut - News.
^ Chamber music concert at Pierre Abou Khater Auditorium, Beyrouth, 2011.
^ G. Yammine is a violinist in the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, founded in 1999 by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Saïd. He published in 2016 as a photographer, a book related to his experience with the orchestra. Edited by D. Barenboim.
G. Yammine (2016) Funkelnde Hoffnung; Das West-Eastern Divan Orchestra und die Kraft der Musik, Herausgegeben von Daniel Barenboim. Ed. Corso[1].
[1] Yammine G. (2016), A spark of hope; the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and the power of music. Edited by Daniel Barenboim, Ed. Corso.
^ Commissioned and interpreted by Claire Merlet, viola, and Alain Huteau, percussion (AllWays), St Andrew's Cathedral, Aberdeen, Scotland, 2018.
^ Khoury, Joelle (Summer–Fall 2008). "Times Goes One Way - Against the Classification of Arts". Al Raida, the Pioneer - Women in the Performing Arts (s 122-123): 97–100.
^ Khoury J., Die Geschichte - ein göttliches Gedicht; Theologie in Noten; Werkersclieβungen und Reflexionen. Wolfgang W. Müller (Hg.), 2015, Grünewald.
^ Khoury, Joelle (2020). "The Body Without Organs... said the Eye to the Ear: Deleuzian thematics in Sophocles, Mann, Beckett and Süskind". Vestigia. 2 (2): 122–140.