Abdel Rahman El Bacha, piano

In June 1978, Abdel-Rahman El Bacha won the Concours Reine Elisabeth de Belgique by an unanimous judgment. He was also awarded the Audience Prize. He was only 19.
 Born in Beyrouth in 1958 in a family of musicians and nephew of a famous painter, he started his piano schooling in 1967 with Zvart Sarkissian, a pupil of Marguerite Long and Jacques Février. At the age of 10 he gave his first concert with an orchestra. In 1973 Claudio Arrau predicted a great career for him and in 1974 he was offered a scholarship by France, the former USSR and Great Britain. He took up the French offer out of cultural affinity and entered the Paris Conservatoire in the class of Pierre Sancan. He graduated with 4 first prizes (piano, chamber music, harmony and counterpoint).
 After the Concours Reine Elisabeth which launched him on the international scene, he chose to bide his time in order to enlarge and further study his repertory. From that moment on, the musical press started comparing him to the greatest pianists, stressing the exceptional qualities of his playing and his emotional power. From the Salzburg Mozarteum to the Paris Théâtre des Champs Elysées, from the Berlin Philharmony to the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, he performs today all over Europe, in Russia, Japan, the Midlle East, the U.S.A, Central and South America.
His vast repertory, including almost 60 concertos, is based mainly on the works of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Rachmaninov, Ravel and Prokofief.
He has performed under eminent conductors with prestigious orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic, The Orchestre de Paris, the NHK Tokyo, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande...
In 1983, his first recording for the label Forlane, Early Works by Prokofiev, was awarded the "Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros". He received it from the hands of Mrs Prokofief herself.
For the same label he has recorded 3 Concertos by Bach, Ravel’s 2 Concertos and works by Schumann, Ravel and Schubert.
His recording of Beethoven’s complete Piano Sonatas, just as his concert performances of these works, were heralded by the press as a "major event". The second CD of these Beethoven recordings, as well as his Ravel recital, were awarded the "Grand Prix de la Nouvelle Académie du Disque Français." For Chopin’s Melodies with Ewa Podlès, he also received the "Gerarld Moore Prize" - best accompanist - from the Académie du Disque Lyrique. He has also recorded Chopin’s complete solo piano works (12 CD) in chronological order.
In March 2002, he obtained a triumph in Nantes, with the complete piano solo works of Chopin given (by heart) in 16 recitals over a period of six days in a row. He renewed this experience at La Roque d’Anthéron Festival in 15 recitals given in July 2003 and the same year at the Sintra Festival (Portugal) and in Avignon.
The 2 CD of Chopin’s complete works for piano and orchestra, recorded with the Orchestre de Bretagne conducted by Stefan Sanderling are also available.
His recording with Russian music was released on the Triton label in June 2007, the Saint-Saens Concertos with the Orchestre de Picardie and Pascal Verrot followed on Calliope in January 2008. By Triton are the complete piano solo works by Ravel as well as the 1st book of the Wohl temperierte Klavier by Johann Sebastian Bach. He also has recorded with Olivier Charlier and Antoine Pierlot for the label TransArt the Chopin Cello Sonata and Trio, a live CD, which will be released beginning 2012. Abdel-Rahman El Bacha was granted the double French-Lebanese citizenship in 1981. He is also a composer. On March 2002, the Orchestre Régional de Cannes-Provence-Côte d’Azur created 2 Préludes mystiques he has written.
He was made "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres" by the French Minister of Culture in 1998 and he has been awarded the "Médaille de l’Ordre du Mérite" by the President of the Republic of Lebanon, the highest distinction of his native country.