CASAR promotes musical performance both in and out of Lebanon. As part of our ongoing lecture series we invite musicians to perform in Beirut, and through the faculty research grants that we award every year we send AUB's musicians abroad to teach and perform. Here are a few highlights of performances that CASAR has brought to Beirut and musical projects that CASAR has funded in other parts of the world.
Stringed Vibrations: The Banjo in Conversation with the Oud and Pipa, a concert in Beirut, May 2011
Renowned American musican and composer Michael Miles visited CASAR in 2011 to deliver a lecture entitled "50 Years of American Music: 1925-1975," and to perform on the Banjo as accompanied by the Arab oud and the Chinese pipa. The concert took place at the Wellspring school in Ashrafieh, Beirut, and featured covers of Lebanese classics as well as original compositions. For more about Miles' visit to Lebanon click here.
"La Anta Habibi" (You're Not My Lover)
With the accompaniment of Lara Molaeb on vocals and piano, Ashraf El-Chouli on oud, and Xiao Wakim on pipa, Michael Miles covers a Lebanese classic that was written and popularly performed by the iconic singer, Fairuz.
"We Will Build a New World"
Michael Miles leads a group of students and musicians in singing an original song that was composed by Miles and participating students in English and Arabic.
Jazz saxophonist and scholar Salim Washington gives lecture-recital, "Twentieth Century
Aesthetic Revolt: The REvolutionary Implications of Jazz," May 2010
CASAR is proud to have welcomed distinguished Jazz musician Dr. Salim Washington to give a lecture-recital at AUB about Jazz in the 20th century and its revolutionary implications. Washington is
a Harlem-based musician/scholar and an accomplished composer/arranger, who
plays tenor saxophone, flute and oboe. He earned his PhD from Harvard, after
the completion of his dissertation: “Beautiful Nightmare: Coltrane, Jazz, and
American Culture.” He has performed in jazz festivals in the United States,
Canada, various countries in Europe, South Africa, Mozambique, Mexico, and
Brazil. He leads the Harlem Arts Ensemble and has performed with many of New
York’s finest musicians. He has conducted extensive research in African
American musical culture and has been an educator and workshop leader in the
United States, South Africa, France, and Ireland.
Director of choral music received several grants to perform and teach in the US and Iraq
Mr. Paul Meers, the former director of choral music at AUB received several research grants from CASAR between 2006 and 2009 in order to travel, lead ensembles, and give presentations and workshops in the US and Iraq. With our funding, in 2006 he traveled to give a workshop on Arabic-language music and performance in Seattle, WA. In 2008 he presented for over 14 days to the Association of American Voices' 2008 Music Academy in Kurdistan, North Iraq. In 2009 he lead small ensembles
as a participant in the
Spanish Renaissance music performance at the Tallis Scholars' Summer School at the University of Seattle.
Accomplished pianist Marcel Worms delivers lecture-recital at CASAR and performs in Beirut with lebanese musicians, May 2005
Marcel Worms, the famous Dutch pianist delivered a lecture-recital at AUB in 2005 entitled "New Blues for Piano: A lecture-recital on the International Blues project with Musical Examples from America and Beyond." During his visit to CASAR he also performed at the iconic Beirut theater, Masrah al-Medina with several Lebanese performers, singer Soumaya al-Baalbeky, saxophonist Nidal Abou-Samra, and dancers Daniel and Rania Haddad. The newsletters pictured here are French and Arabic-language reviews of the concert.
