Artist Bio:
Rami Khalifé was born in Beirut, Lebanon, on September 25, 1981. From very early on, Rami Khalifé exhibited a passion for music.
After a short initiation on the piano, Rami Khalifé left Lebanon when he was seven years old and resumed his musical training in France at the Conservatoire National de Région de Boulogne-Billancourt, studying with Louis-Claude Thirion and Marie-Paule Siruguet.
Ten years later, he was awarded first place on piano and received several degrees in musical theory. Along with his training at the conservatory, Rami Khalifé studied piano with the noted Lebanese pianist, Abd El Rahman El Bacha.
Rami Khalifé received several prizes during those years in Paris, most notable among them were the piano competitions of Radio France, the UFAM and Claude Kahn, thanks to which he was able to perform at the Gaveau Music Hall in 1994.
On a tour of the Middle East with the Boulogne-Billancourt Orchestra, Rami Khalifé performed the Rachmaninov Piano Concert No. 4.
From 2000 to 2004, Rami Khalifé pursued his higher education at the Julliard School of Music in New York. He studied piano under the Hungarian pianist, Gyorgy Sandor, who was the very last pupil of Bela Bartuk. He graduated from Julliard in May 2004.
Rami Khalifé has given many solo and duo concerts. Together with the clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and the cellist Fabio Presgrave, they have performed in the Middle East, the United States, Europe and Brazil.
Rami Khalifé's open-mindedness and musical richness led him to jazz where he discovered an innate talent for improvisation.
With Francesco Schlimé, he gave several improvisational concerts for two pianos, one of which was the first of its kind in the history of the Julliard School of Music.
Khalifé founded the group Spring Septet with other young musicians, and appeared in such Parisian jazz clubs as the Sunset, Baiser Salé, Cithea, and others.
Since 2000, Rami Khalifé has been touring with Lebanese composer and master oud player Marcel Khalifé in performances around the world.
June 2003: performances in Brazil with the violoncellist Fabio Presgrave (Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre..).
July and August: Concerts in Europe.
Fall 2003: Concerts with Marcel Khalifé (Switzerland, Tunisia, and Lebanon).
February 2004: Recording of the album piano solo Scene from Hellek.
- Recording of an album in Brazil with Presgrave, and the violinist Daniel Guedes. A CD of tango and popular Arabic music.
Spring 2004: concerts with the pianist Francesco Schlime in Germany and in the United States.
Summer 2004: concerts in North Africa with Marcel Khalifé.
From September to December 2004: concerts in Spain and performances in the United States with Marcel Khalifé.
January 2005: launching concert of the CD Scene from Hellek in the Assembly Hall of the American University of Beirut.
Spring 2005: performances in the United States for the debut of Scene from Hellek.
— Courtesy Calabash Music
