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Fouad Fakhouri (b. 1972)
brings tremendous excitement to his performances. He has been lauded
for his ability to elicit the best out of his musicians and to
elevate the artistic performance level of orchestras he conducts. In
May 2004 he was named Music Director and Conductor of the
Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra of North Carolina, USA. He is the
fifth music director in the symphony’s fifty-two year history.
Since assuming his post he has significantly raised the orchestra’s
artistic standard, created novel educational and outreach programs,
and dramatically increased the symphony’s audience.
Fakhouri has worked with several
ensembles and orchestras in the United States and abroad. In early
1995, at age 22, he made his conducting debut at the International
Jerash Festival with the National Music Conservatory Orchestra of
Jordan (NMCO). Between 1996-1998 he served as assistant conductor to
the Penn State Philharmonic. In the summer of 1997 he was appointed
conducting assistant to Pu-Qi Jiang at the Penn’s Woods Music
Festival in State College, Pennsylvania. In August 1999 he was
one of only three conductors selected to participate in Daniel
Barenboim’s master class at the West-Eastern Divan Workshop in
Weimar, Germany. In 2001 he conducted the closing concert of the
Baltimore International Cello Festival in a program that included two
of his own compositions. In December 2003 he conducted the Bulgarian
Symphony Orchestra in multiple recording sessions of his orchestral
works.
Since 2004, Fakhouri has been in demand
as a guest conductor both in the USA and abroad. In January 2008 he
conducted the Cairo Symphony Orchestra in multiple performances in
Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt, and in the summer of 2008, at the
invitation of the National Music Conservatory of Jordan, he traveled
with twenty members of the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra and
conducted a joint concert with the Amman Symphony Orchestra.
In January 2009 Fakhouri is scheduled
to conduct the English Chamber Orchestra (UK) in a premiere of his
latest composition written specifically for that orchestra.
Fakhouri’s compositional output is
diverse and his music has been heard in various countries such as the
United States, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom,
Bulgaria, Israel, Jordan and Egypt. He has written many orchestral
pieces, in addition to chamber, choral, and solo music. His
orchestral works have been premiered and performed by such orchestras
as the English Chamber Orchestra, Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra,
Mediterranean Orchestra, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, Fayetteville
Symphony Orchestra, Cairo Symphony Orchestra, the National Music
Conservatory Orchestra of Jordan and the Penn State Philharmonic.
Fakhouri holds a B.M. in Music Theory
and Composition from West Texas A&M, a M.M. in conducting and
another in composition from Pennsylvania State University, and a
D.M.A. in composition from the University of North Texas. He is
married to Diane Lavelle, an advertising executive. They have a
daughter – Isabella Margaux Fakhouri. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOUAD FAKHOURI: COMPOSER “LaFayette”:
Overture for Orchestra
Written
while auditioning for FSO Music Director/Conductor position in 2003
Premiered
by the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra (May, 2004)
Performed
by the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra (September, 2007)
“Orange
Mecanique”: Trance Music for Orchestra
Premiered
by the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra (December, 2003)
Performed
by the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra (February, 2006)
“Memento
Mori”: Concert for Violoncello and Orchestra
Premiered
by the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra (December, 2003)
“Gargoyle”
for Orchestra
Premiered
by the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra (December, 2003)
“Pour
Un Roi” for String Orchestra and Two Horns
Premiered
by the Mediterranean Orchestra (October, 2000)
Performed
by the Mediterranean Orchestra at the historic “Politeama Theatre”
in Palermo, Italy (October, 2002)
Performed
by the English Chamber Orchestra in London, England (Summer 2007)
“Heron”
Premiered
by the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra (February, 2008) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Find out even more in Fouad Fakhouri's Q&A !
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