"La musique commence là où s'arrête le pouvoir des mots." — Claude Debussy
Elia
Helayel
Violinist
Beirut
Since 1985
Commission a performance →
Beirut
Since 1985
"La musique commence là où s'arrête le pouvoir des mots." — Claude Debussy
"He plays the way memory works —
suddenly, and without warning."
Dominique Fabre, Senior Music Critic
§ 01 — The Artist
Elia Helayel took his first lesson at seven under maestro Georges Yammine in the mountains above Beirut. By eighteen he had performed with the Lebanese Philharmonic. By thirty, forty countries. By fifty, more than anyone could count.
His playing exists at the crossing of two traditions that refuse to stay separate: the rigour of the European conservatoire and the modal melancholy of the Arabic maqam. What emerges from that tension is neither — and more than both.
Beiteddine Festival
Solo Recital
Lebanon
Salle Pleyel
Bartók Concerto No. 2
Paris, France
Dubai Opera
Arab Romanticism
Dubai, UAE
Elbphilharmonie
Chamber Series
Hamburg, Germany
Carnegie Hall
Debut Recital
New York, USA
Royal Albert Hall
BBC Proms
London, UK
Palazzo della Musica
Venice Music Festival
Venice, Italy
Sydney Opera House
International Series
Sydney, Australia
Lebanese Philharmonic
Brahms Concerto in D
Beirut, Lebanon
Conservatoire de Paris
Premier Prix
Paris, France
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There is a hush that falls over a hall when Elia Helayel raises his bow. It is the hush of an audience that knows, with absolute certainty, that it is about to be changed.
Each occasion is approached with the seriousness of a world premiere. The following is what is possible. For everything else — write.
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