Abdel-Rahman EL-BACHA

• 1st prize, Piano 1978
  
• jury, Piano 1991
  
• jury, Piano 1995
  
• jury, Piano 2003
  
• jury, Piano 2007
  
• Jury, Piano 2010
  

In 1978, Abdel Rahmna El Bacha won the Queen Elisabeth Competition by a unanimous judgement. He was also awarded the Audience Prize. He was nineteen.
Born in Beirut in October 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 Piere Sancan. he graduated with 4 first prizes ( piano, chamber music, harmony, and counterpoint).

After the Queen Elisabeth Competition 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, laying emphasis on the sovereignty, the limpidity, the virtuosity and the serenity of his playing, going to the very core of emotion. From the Mozarteum in Salzburg to the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, from the Berlin Philharmony to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, he performs today all over Europe, in Japan, the Middle East and in the U.S.A.

His vast repertory, including 50 concertos, is based mainly on the works of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert, Schumann, Rachmaninov, Ravel and Prokofiev.
He has performed under eminent conductors: Serge Baudo, Eliahu Inbal, Emmanuel Krivine, Kurt Masur, Stanislas Skrowaczewski... for the Berlin Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, the Royal Philharmonic, the NHK Tokyo, the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande...
In 1993, his first record, Early Works, by Prokofiev, was awarded the "Grand Prix" de l’Académie Charles Cros. He recieved it from the hands of Mrs Prokofiev herself. For Forlane, he has recorded 3 concertos of Bach, Ravel`s 2 concertos, and works by Schumann, Ravel and Schubert.

His recording of the complete Piano Sonatas by Beethoven, just as his concert performances, are heralded by the press as a "major event". The second CD of this complete recording, as well as his Ravel recital, were awarded the "Grand Prix" de la Nouvelle Académie du Disque Français". He is currently recording Chopin`s complete works for the piano, in chronological order.

Abdel Rahman El Bacha is also a composer. In 1981, he was granted the double French-Lebanese citizenship. He lives near Paris.