Rami Khalifé

Rami Khalifé (born September 25, 1981)[1] is a French-Lebanese[2] composer and pianist.[3][4]

Rami Khalifé
Background information
Born (1981-09-25) September 25, 1981
Beirut, Lebanon
OriginParis, France
Occupation(s)Composer
Pianist
InstrumentsPiano
Years active1995–present
Websiterami-khalife.com

Early life and education

Khalifé was born in Beirut, Lebanon, into a family of musicians. His father is musician Marcel Khalifé and his mother is vocalist Yolla Khalifé. His brother is the percussionist Bachar Mar-Khalifé.[1] Khalifé lived in Beirut until the age of eight when his family moved to Paris as part of a large wave of Lebanese people emigrating to France during the Lebanese Civil War. He eventually got French citizenship.[2]

In Paris, Khalifé attended the Conservatoire National de Région de Boulogne-Billancourt where he studied piano with Louis-Claude Thirion and Marie-Paule Siruguet, and later with Lebanese pianist Abd El Rahman El Bacha. Khalifé was awarded first place on piano and a degree in music theory.[5]

In 2000, Khalifé moved to New York City to study piano with Hungarian pianist Gyorgy Sandor at the Juilliard School of Music. He graduated in 2003.[5]

Career

In Paris before college, Khalifé won piano competitions at Radio France, at the UFAM Competition, and at the Claude Kahn International Piano Competition. In 1994, he performed at the Gaveau Music Hall.[5] He toured the Middle East with the Boulogne-Billancourt Orchestra, where he performed the Rachmaninov piano concerto No. 4 and Ravel's piano concerto in G.[5]

Khalifé has performed in the Middle East and the United States as a solo artist as well as with clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, often playing classical works as well as improvised compositions.[6]

Khalifé performed in Brazil with Brazilian cellist Fabio Presgrave.[5]

While at Juilliard, Khalifé met pianist Francesco Tristano. They performed several improvised concerts for piano-duo and began what would be a long-term creative collaboration. Khalifé also performed improvised concerts for two pianos at Juilliard with pianist Francesco Schlimé.[7]

Khalifé has released multiple live and studio records as a solo artist. In 2002, Khalifé released his first record, a double record called Live in Beirut, which was reinterpretations of traditional classical music pieces. In 2005, he released his second record, Scene from Hellek, which consisted of original compositions.[8]

In 2006, Khalifé performed at the University of Michigan's Hill Auditorium as part of the Arab World Music Summit.[9]

In 2007, Khalifé released a record called Piano Concertos which was Piano Concerto No. 5 by Sergei Prokofiev and Piano Concerto No. 1 by Lebanese-Russian composer Abdalla El-Masri.[2]

In 2013, Khalifé performed original music inspired by the Arab Spring called Requiem for Beirut at the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra and the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir.[10] In 2015, he performed the work at an outdoor concert at Martyrs' Square in Beirut.

In 2016, Khalifé performed his composition Stories for piano and orchestra with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia.[4][11][12]

In May 2017, he performed his work, Voyage with Marcel Khalifé at the Philharmonie de Paris with his father and at the Orchestre national d'Île-de-France, conducted by Julien Leroy.

In 2018, Khalifé released his fifth solo record, an almost completely instrumental work called Lost.[13][14][15]

Aufgang

In 2005, Khalifé founded the classic electronic group Aufgang, initially as a modern experimental music piano duo with Francesco Schlimé aided by digitized music.[16] Aufgang then became a three person project with Khalifé, Francesco Tristano, and Aymeric Westrich, with a record deal with the French label InFiné. They broke out at the 2005 Sonar Festival in Barcelona.[17][18]

Marcel, Rami and Bachar Khalifé

In 2011, Khalifé began a new project with his father and brother called "Marcel, Rami & Bachar Khalifé".[19] They debuted at the Beirut Music & Art Festival and was broadcast on MTV.[20] The group was made up of Marcel Khalifé on oud with son Rami Khalifé on piano and son Bachar Khalifé on percussion – with Gilbert Yammine on qanun.[21]

In 2016, the group released a collaborative record called Andalusia of Love, a mixture of traditional music inspired by the Palestinian writer Mahmoud Darwish and improvised compositions from Rami and Bachar.[22] They toured the United States under the sponsorship of American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee,[21][23] making their United States debut at Town Hall in New York City.[24]

Personal life

Khalifé lives in Paris with his wife, ABC Broadcast Journalist Mariam Saab[25] and their two children.[26]

Discography

Solo records
  • 2002: Live in Beirut (Nagam Records)
  • 2005: Scene from Hellek (Nagam Records)[6][8]
  • 2007: Piano Concertos (Nagam Records)[2]
  • 2008: Pop Art: Francesco Tristano Piano Duet Rami Khalifé (Nagam Records) – with Francesco Tristano
  • 2009: Chaos (Nagam Records)
  • 2016: Stories (Nagam Records)[27][28]
  • 2018: Lost (Nagam Records)[29][30]
  • 2019: Requiem for Beirut (Live) featuring Whalran Seo, Michalis Economou, Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra & Leipzig MDR Choir[10]

Aufgang
  • "Ellenroutir (Remixes)" (InFiné)
  • "Kyrie (Remixes)" (InFiné)
  • "Barock Remixes" (InFiné)
  • 2009: "Channel 7 Remixes" 12" single EP with 20th Floor Remix By Cubenx and You And Me Remix By John Talabot (InFiné)[31]
  • 2000: "Sonar" 12" single (InFiné)
  • 2010: Air on Fire EP (InFiné)
  • 2010: Dulceria EP (InFiné)[18]
  • 2010: Aufgang, self-titled (InFiné)[32]
  • 2013: Istiklaliya (InFiné)
  • 2016: Turbulences (InFiné)

Marcel, Rami and Bachar Khalifé
  • 2016: Andalusia of Love[33]

Selected collaborations
  • 2002: Música Do Campus: Música Brasileira Para Violoncelo E Piano (Universidade Federal Do Rio Grande Do Norte/Petrobras) – piano
  • 2002: Concerto Al Andalus / كونشرتو الأندلس by Marcel Khalifé (Nagam Records)
  • 2004: Caress / مداعبة by Marcel Khalifé (Nagam Records)
  • 2005: Ne Retiens Pas Tes Larmes / À Mon Amour... by Amel Bent single (Jive/Epic) – piano
  • 2006: The Green Armchair (Agoria)
  • 2007: Not for Piano by Francesco Tristano (InFiné) – piano
  • 2008: Damascus Festival Chamber Players
  • 2010: Oil Slick by Bachar Mar-Khalifé
  • 2011: Aah by Yolla Khalifé

Filmography
  • 2016: Aufgang: Summer (video short) – Composer[16]

References
  1. "Bio". Rami Khalifé. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  2. Quilty, Jim (21 September 2007). "Rami Khalife: an artist of more than one musical mind". The Daily Star.
  3. Nastos, Michael G. "Rami Khalifé: Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  4. Whittington, Lew J. (11 December 2016). "A musical night to remember at Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia". HuffPost.
  5. "Rami: Biography". Rami Khalifé. Archived from the original on 21 October 2007.
  6. McDonagh, Michael (16 April 2006). "Improv Heaven: Rami Khalife & Kinan Azmeh in Berkeley". Sequenza21. Archived from the original on 8 May 2006.
  7. McDonagh, Michael (12 August 2008). "Double trouble". The Bay Area Reporter.
  8. Short, Ramsay (22 January 2005). "Outerspatial sounds from present to future - the music of Rami Khalife". The Daily Star.
  9. Johnson, Lawrence B. (14 April 2006). "Concert surveys Arab cultures: New and old sounds from several performers will mingle at Ann Arbor's Hill Auditorium". The Detroit News. Archived from the original on 24 August 2007.
  10. Jepson, Barbara (May 2014). "Song of Sorrows". Opera News. 78 (11).
  11. Davidian, Edgar (22 December 2016). "Rami Khalifé, ni ici ni ailleurs, mais un succès toujours retentissant". L'Orient-Le Jour.
  12. Hunt, Donald (14 December 2016). "Alternative routes, new stories – Fusco and Khalifé at the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia". Artblog.
  13. Fraisse, Corentin (9 November 2018). "Ça sort aujourd'hui : vendredi 9 novembre". TSUGI (in French).
  14. "Vera Sola, The Last Detail, Charles Bradley… : ça sort aujourd'hui et Magic aime". Magic, Revue Pop Moderne (in French). 9 November 2018.
  15. Provençal, Jérôme (9 November 2018). ""Lost", la fusion absolue de Rami Khalifé et de son piano". Les Inrocks (in French).
  16. Lorgerie, Paul (26 August 2015). "Aufgang, misters météo". Libération (in French).
  17. "Artist: Aufgang". InFiné. Archived from the original on 9 January 2016.
  18. Durston, Tom (26 October 2010). "Aufgang: Dulceria". Inverted Audio.
  19. Harrak, Ibtisam (20 February 2014). "Two generations, one story…". al.arte.magazine.
  20. "Things to do in Houston: Marcel, Rami, & Bachar Khalife At Day For Night In Houston". Time Out Houston. 2016.
  21. "Sounds for a New Golden Age: Oud Maestro Marcel Khalife Unites Family Talents, Builds Powerful Bridges in a Season of Distrust". Rock Paper Scissors. 8 December 2016.
  22. Colin, Molly (20 December 2016). "All Eyes Are on Marcel Khalifé in Concert". San Francisco Classical Voice.
  23. McDonagh, Michael (9 January 2017). "Marcel Khalife and sons Rami and Bachar Mar-Khalife". CultureVulture.
  24. Gerbasi, Thomas (7 December 2016). "Breaking barriers with the Khalife family". KO63.
  25. "ABC Late News Weekend: Saturday 23/5/2020". ABC iview. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  26. "Producer, Mariam Saab and her son, with pianist Rami Khalife and Marcel Khalife". Radio National. 16 April 2013.
  27. Brunner, Vincent (24 February 2017). "Rami Khalifé joue au raconteur d'histoires sur son nouvel album". Les Inrocks (in French).
  28. "La Récréation: Rami Khalifé". France Inter (in French). 17 January 2017.
  29. Moreau, François (17 October 2018). "Exclu : Le clip hédoniste et transgressif de Rami Khalifé". Les Inrocks (in French).
  30. "Rami Khalife Solved". Moors Magazine (in Dutch). 17 December 2018.
  31. Gaerig, Andrew (13 November 2009). "Listen to "Channel 7 (You and Me) (John Talabot Remix)" by Aufgang". Pitchfork.
  32. Howe, Brian (10 February 2010). "Aufgang: Aufgang". Pitchfork.
  33. "Marcel and Rami Khalife Infuse a Love of Andalusia and Darwish". Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture. 10 December 2016.
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