Hiba Al Kawas
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Hiba Al Kawas

Beirut, Beyrouth, Lebanon | Established. Jan 01, 2020 | MAJOR

Beirut, Beyrouth, Lebanon | MAJOR
Established on Jan, 2020
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"5th Festival Finale with Hiba Al Kawas, Jose Maria Gallardo del Rey and the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra"

5th Festival Finale with Hiba Al Kawas, Jose Maria Gallardo del Rey and the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra

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Abu Dhabi, UAE: Alas, all good things must come to an end, or so the saying goes. Over the last twelve nights the Capital was awash with visitors from far away and from closer to home. Some of these visitors were here to perform; some were here to enjoy the music. And enjoy the music they did. The Finale night of the 5th Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Festival took place, as usual, at the Auditorium of the beautiful Emirates Palace hotel playing to a full house of music lovers and in the presence of HH Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Mrs. Nazek Al Harriri (wife of the late Lebanese PM, Rafic Al Hariri) and the Lebanese Minister for Telecommunications, Mr. Marwan Hamadeh, the Spanish Ambassador, Manuel Piniero, and many other distinguished guests and diplomats.
From Lebanon, a country of beauty and complexity comes Hiba Al Kawas, quite literally the "Musical tour de force". Hiba has a Masters Degree in operatic chant and in music composition, and was awarded a scholarship by the Academia di Chiggiana di Sienna, Italy, where she undertook further studies in opera singing and composition. This can be heard throughout her repertoire using Western opera technical methodology at voice projection that is quite unlike any other Arab performer. The result of which is a very, very fine, clear, yet immensely resilient ability at reaching and maintaining highs again and again.

Hiba also enjoys a remarkable ability at creating music, for she is a composer. She composed 14 of the 17 works of the Finale ranging from the delicate gentle melody of the encore to the complex layering of her powerful symphonic poem. That the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra was able to perform perfectly such a wide range of musical thematic styles is the absolute tribute to their technical abilities, ably conducted by Polish Maestro, Wojciech Czepiel.

The concert featured 5 world premieres "Nujoom Al Dunia Biinaik" a romantic melody that features the poetry of Nada El Hage and a solo of Spanish Guitar which was performed ably by Jose Maria and complemented by a wonderful orchestral theme. This work highlighted Hiba's incredible vocal abilities with her pulling and maintaining very high notes and repeating it again and again.

The second, "Asra Biqalbi" is based on the powerful poetry of Saudi poet Abdul Aziz Khoja and in which Hiba again repeats the verses again and again in different keys, emphasizing different parts of the verse, which conveys subtle differences in the meaning yet easily piercing the heart to touch the listener's emotional soul at its core. Hiba's voice builds up to a pace and slows down again, seemingly spent only to regenerate and explode into a frenzy of aural passion.
The symphonic poem "In the Path of Light" is a work dedicated to HE Hoda Kanoo, the founder of both the Festival and ADMAF, commenced the second part of the concert, in a shock drum and trumpet start that warned the listener that this was serious music. A very complex piece with many layers, "In the Path of Light" seemed to be inspired by the Shostakovich "dynamo" style of Soviet music with very, very powerful parts interlaced by more moody, darker, "stormy" periods. Beneath the seemingly endless clashes of the drums and trumpets, a bit like a stormy sea crashing against the solid rock of a mountain, lay a softer Arab themed melody, championed only by the strings, that patiently tries to emerge only to be beaten back by the endless sea. At times, the other sections of the orchestra take up the melody as if trying to communicate with itself, only to reject it forcefully and repeat its own thunderous message. The piece ends almost as abruptly as it begins, leaving a shocked audience to ponder the meaning of it all. A fittingly thunderous applause followed as if to retort to the thunder of the piece itself. Powerful stuff this.

"Habibi" was the second work featuring the poetry of Saudi poet Abdul Aziz Khoja in a rich, uplifting piece that was very much in parallel style to the earlier one, with Hiba repeating verses in true Arabic poetic style.
"Sawti Assama'" commences with an introduction on guitar by Jose Maria as if the guitar speaks with the orchestra. The swoony, relaxed style of the piece is more Western than others giving Hiba the opportunity to sing at a slower, more leisurely pace complemented beautifully by the guitar and the Orchestra. Suddenly, Hiba catches fire and takes us again to the edge, but then allows us to return to a more calmer pace.

Spanish guitar master, Jose Maria Del Rey, beautifully performed the second movement from Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez", an Adagio. This was a classic that was greatly appreciated by everyone. Jose Maria also presented two solo guitar pieces. The first "Rosales", inspired by a walk along the Rosales park in Madrid, has roots in classical guitar, hinting at times at Flamenco, but is a contemporary work that mirrors Spain, a modern country proud of its heritage and historical roots. The second "Aires de Sevilla" is another contemporary solo piece for the guitar comprised of three parts. The first part transports you to modern Seville with a mix of contemporary, hinting at flamenco roots. In the second part the guitar seemingly commences a dialogue, almost as if it was talking to the listener, telling him about the history of the city, hinting at its Arab history at times. The last part brings us up to date being in a much faster contemporary style and beat.

The Orchestra also performed the first and second movement of Hiba's Pleusis no. 1, a work dedicated to Mrs. Nazek Al Hariri.

-Ends-

© Press Release 2008

from Rawaj International - Zawaya


Discography

Discography:

1- Oughannika Habibi ( I sing you my Love)
2- Lady Light
3- Li'anni Ahya ( Because I Live)
4- Pleusis No.1
5- Aspiration No.1
6- Moments In Krakow

Radio Streaming:

On Sporify:
http://open.spotify.com/album/7fThAF9zzN47KpfZLTO6i7

On Jango Airplay:
http://www.jango.com/music/Hiba+Al+Kawas?l=0

On Last FM:
http://www.last.fm/music/Hiba+Al+Kawas

Photos

Bio


The Grand Dame of Arabic Opera Singing and Composing
Hiba Al Kawas

Inspiring Opera Singer, Moving Soprano, Talented Composer, Brilliant Educator, Pioneering Artist, Compassionate person, and Gentle Soul, all words used to describe world renowned Opera Singer and Composer Hiba Al Kawas

One of the remarkable women in the world of music today, is the Lebanese composer and opera singer Hiba Al Kawas: Remarkable for talent, creativity, artistic and intellectual personality.

Hiba embarked on her Musical journey very early. She first played the piano at the tender age of two and a half and composed her first piece at the age of four. She Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Clinical Psychology, a diploma in Piano studies, and two Cum Laude Master's Degrees one in opera singing under the guidance of Toufic Kerbage, and the other in composition and musicology under the supervision of Walid Gholmieh. Her early studies gave a glimpse into her true potential, her tremendous creative and artistic talent. She was awarded a special scholarship from the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Italy, where she pursued advanced studies in opera singing with Carlo Bergonzi and composition with Franco Donatoni. Since, she has pursued a successful and brilliant musical career.
Hiba Al Kawas composes for symphony, chamber and string orchestra; she also composes for piano and voice and various ensembles. Traditional Arabic instruments were included in her compositions. She incorporates Oriental-Arabic music elements within the overall composition techniques, bridging cultural borders of the continents of music, the Lyrical East and the Symphonic West.
Twenty of her early works were recorded with the Dniepropetrovsk Symphony Orchestra-Ukraine under the direction of Viascheslav Blenov. Ten more recent works were recorded with the Symphony Orchestra Krakow. She has recently recorded numerous works with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine and the National Choir of Kiev conducted by Vladimir Sirenko.
In 2000 she was named Representative of Contemporary Composers of the year by the Krakow Contemporary Composition Festival, when the Krakow Chamber Orchestra played her Aspiration No.1. At another date her Moments in Krakow was given its world premiere by the Krakow Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Wojciech Czepiel. This work reached world fame when it was performed by The Lebanese National Symphony Orchestra, The Cairo Symphony Orchestra and The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra. Her orchestral work, Pleusis 1, which was premiered in 2000 by the Lebanese National Symphony Orchestra, has also been played by the London Sinfonia, Cairo Symphony Orchestra, Krakow Symphony Orchestra, and Bolshoi State Theatre Symphony Orchestra.

During the Gaudeamus Music Week, the Neuwe Ensemble commissioned and performed her composition Sada Al Akwan, for the Opening of the “Muziekgebau” Amsterdam, in 2005.
The opening ceremony of Tyre Festival in Lebanon and the Al-Medina Festival in Tunis were affected by her performance. In 2006 for the 2nd anniversary of the Dubai International Financial Centre, Hiba Al Kawas performed duets along with the outstanding tenor José Carreras, she also performed songs and intermezzos of her own composition, accompanied by the London Sinfonia Orchestra conducted by David Giménez-Carreras and Brad Cohen.
She dedicated her song O Liban soit sauvé! (on a poem by Nada El Hage) to the memory of Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, and to the President Jacques Chirac who attended her concert at the IMA in Paris 2007.
Her composition, Rou'ia Fi Maa’, “A Vision in Water”, received its premiere at the Opéra Bastille in Paris 2007. This piece was commissioned by the Festival d'Automne for Contemporary Music and performed by the Neuwe Ensemble of Amsterdam. The work comprises five movements of which three movements include bits of vocal intrusions based on Arabic poems by Nada El Hage.
In 2008 a short musical film directed by Camille Mallat: Noor - Lady Light was produced based on her song Asra bi-Qalbi, on a poem by Abdel Aziz Khoja. The screening took place in Beirut in 2008 and at the London International Documentary Film Festival in 2009.
Born in Saida, Lebanon, 17 July 1972, Hiba Al Kawas performed her first concert at the age of six. Thereafter the stream of concerts never stopped; from in Lebanon, to Syria, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Tunis, Bahrain, Amman, London, Cairo, Paris, Bologna, Sienna, Stuttgart, Krakow, Kiev, Lisbon, Estoril, and Amsterdam.
The core heart of her career is the establishing of the Arabic Opera from Lebanon to the Arab World and beyond. Her discipline advocates a highly scientific degree, not to be confused with singing opera in Arabic, as she created a new concept of composition for vocal music, since Arabic language embodies other difficulties in style and performance than the habitual Bel Canto and Lieder tradition. She also developed and adapted operatic vocal technique which allow