Hassan Taha
Hassan Taha | |||
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| Background information | |||
| Born | April 7, 1968 Homs, Syria | ||
| Genres | Classical Arabic music Neue Musik Theatre music | ||
| Occupation(s) |
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| Instruments | oud, horn | ||
| Years active | 1997–present | ||
| Associated acts | Syrian National Symphony Orchestra; Chamber Academy of Potsdam / Germany, Conductor: Antonello Manacorda; Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Conductor: Rupert Huber; Ensemble "Brunnen & Brücken" by Hans Martin Stähli / Switzerland | ||
Hassan Taha (April 7, 1968 in Homs, Syria) is a Syrian composer, oud player and horn player. Hassan Taha, along with Zaid Jabri, Kareem Roustom, Raad Khalaf, Kinan Azmeh and Basilius Alawad, is one of the notable representatives of the so-called second generation of Syrian composers at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries.[1] His works realise new ways of developing Syrian music, reflecting another level of synthesis of traditional models of European and Arabic music by bringing together these traditions and contemporary intonation systems.[2][3]
In 2007, Hassan Taha composed his first piano concerto, which was also the first piano concerto in the current Syrian music history. The world premiere took place in 2008 at the Damascus Opera House in Damascus as part of the 2008 Arab Capital of Culture. His musical works have been performed in Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, France, Lithuania, Malta, Great Britain, Germany and Switzerland.[4] In addition, his works were included in the musical repertoire of the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra, where he performed as a composer, soloist and musician with classical and modern compositions.
For more than 10 years Hassan Taha was a lecturer in orchestration for the students of the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus and at the same time worked as a lecturer in music history at the Higher Institute of Dramaturgy in Damascus. For Arabic-language music magazines he wrote scientific articles about modern Arabic music culture and music history.[5] He participated to international festivals and conferences as a lecturer and researcher in Arabic music. He was invited to take part in Al-Farabi Festival in London, England.[6] In 2005 Hassan Taha took part in the cultural symposium "Arab-European Dialogue" in Tunis.[7]
Even as a student, Hassan Taha discovered his passion and enthusiasm for the theater. In 1997, one of his first theatrical compositions for saxophone, piano, double bass, percussion, singer and choir was created in "Les nègres"/"The Blacks (play)" by the French novelist, playwright and poet Jean Genet. In total, Hassan Taha has composed more than 100 small works for theatrical performances and TV productions.
Hassan Taha has been living and working in Switzerland since 2010.
Biography
Hassan Taha was born in 1968 in the city of Homs (Syria) in a musical family. Already in early childhood, he showed outstanding musical abilities. From childhood he played the oud. An inspiring role model for him was his uncle Samih Taha, who was a well-known performer at the Oud in Homs.[8] Already in his school years, Hassan Taha dreamed of becoming a professional musician. His parents supported the child's interest in music and found for him a professional music teacher the musician friend Hani Shammout. At that time he was the only music teacher and cellist with an academic education in Homs. Hani Shammout had studied classical music at the Cairo Conservatoire and in Milan. Under his guidance, the young Hassan Taha received his first lessons in music theory, European harmony and got to know the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven. This enabled Hassan Taha to prepare for his studies at the University of Music in Damascus. But first he took the advice of his parents and, after graduating from school, began a medical education as a health care worker. After completing his education in 1993, Hassan Taha went to Damascus, where he studied the Oud in the College of Music and Theater. The rector of the college, Solhi al-Wadi, who was engaged in the training of musicians for the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1991, was close to Hassan Taha to also study the horn. After graduating from the College of Music and Theater, Hassan Taha continued to work in the orchestra.[9]
In 2003, Hassan Taha was given the opportunity to continue his music studies in Western Europe. He enrolled for postgraduate studies in composition with Professor John Slangen at the Maastricht Academy of Music in the Netherlands. After completing his studies, Hassan Taha returned to Syria. Here he continued to work for the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra, creating his own musical works. In January 2008, a concert from the composer's works was held at the Syrian National Opera House in Damascus. In 2009, his composition "Makamphony" was performed at the Damascus State Opera during the first festival of Oriental music.[10][11] In the same year, his work "Kadmos and Europa (consort of Zeus)" was performed by a group of Syrian and European musicians at the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of cooperation between Syria and the European Union in this state opera.[12] In 2010 he participated in the program "Artist in Residence" of the Cultural Foundation Pro Helvetia in Switzerland. In 2011, the world premiere of his musical composition "Dice Player" based on poems and texts by Mahmoud Darwish took place at the Gare du Nord (Basel) Experimental Center for Contemporary Music in Basel. As part of master classes, Hassan Taha has collaborated with composers such as Vinko Globokar, Helmut Oehring and theater director Prof. Dr. Matthias Rebstock.[13]
The Syrian civil war in Syria hindered the return of the musician and his wife, the singer Najat Suleiman, to Syria.[14] Hassan Taha lives and works in Bern, where he received a Master's degree in composition from the Hochschule der Künste Bern in 2012 (mentoring: Xavier Dayer and Christian Henking). He also received a scholarship from the Fondation Nicati-de Luze, Lausanne. His composition "Into the Ocean" was premiered at the Biennale Bern and at the Swiss Contemporary Music Festival "OggiMusica" in Lugano in 2012.[15][16]
In 2018 Hassan Taha presented his musical project "Alrozana" (Arabian "الروزانا"), a synthesis of Syrian and Swiss folk music, together with Ensemble "Brunnen & Brücken" by Hans Martin Stähli.[17][18][19]
In new works by Hassan Taha, created in Switzerland, one can see the changes in his musical style. In his compositions, Western and Syrian musical traditions merge in such a way that his music can no longer be assigned to a specific tradition. The composer works more and more in the border area between music and theater. In the field of Neue Musik and musical theaters he develops his current works.[20]
Original compositions
Works for Orchestra
| 2000 | Qanun and chamber orchestra |
| 2005 | - Folk dance for string orchestra and oriental instruments |
| 2006 | - Suite No. 1 (to Najat) for string orchestra and oriental instruments |
| 2007 | - Concerto for Piano and Symphony Orchestra |
| 2009 | percussion, string orchestra and oriental instruments |
Chamber
| 2002 | - Sonata for horn and piano - Sophi hymn for clarinet, piano and choir |
| 2006 | - Samaii Chromatic for Oud, clarinet, horn, cello and piano |
| 2007 | - String Quartet No.1 |
| 2011 | Tombak and bass clarinet |
| 2019 | - Das tethered Boat for oboe, horn, violin and piano |
| 2021 | - Aus der Ferne for Ney, Qanun, violin, viola, double bass and percussion - Kein Kompromiss (No compromise) for oboe and violin |
Solo pieces
| 1990 | - Samaii for Oud |
| 2003 | - Three shorts pieces for clarinet |
| 2006 | - Pavane for violin - Samaii for violin |
| 2016 | - Distortion for Oud |
Stage music
| 1995 | - Composition for brass quintet, guitar and percussion in "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes - Director: Samir Osma - House of Culture and Art, Homs |
| 1997 | - Composition for choir, piano, percussion and string orchestra in "Hamlet without Hamlet" by Khazal al-Majidi - Director: Naji Abdul Amir - Theater Al-Hamra, Damascus |
| 1998 | - Composition for saxophone, piano, double bass, percussion, singer and choir in " The Negroes" by Jean Genet - Director: Naji Abdul Amir, Theater Abu Khalil Al-Qabbani, Damascus |
| 2001 | - Composition for string quartet, Oriental percussion, Arghul (traditional Syrian instrument) in "Kahrab" by Basim Kahar - Director: Basim Kahar - Theater Abu Khalil Al-Qabbani, Damascus - Municipal Theater Beirut - Fawanees Festival, Amman |
| 2001 | - Composition for singer, clarinet, cello, percussion and tuba in "Awa" (Children's Theater) by Amal Hwijeeh - Director: Amal Hwijeeh - Theater Abu Khalil Al-Qabbani, Damascus |
| 2006 | - Composition for singer, accordion, solo trumpet, solo cello, percussion and string orchestra in Trunkene Tage by Saadallah Wannous - Director: Basim Kahar - Theater Ramita, Damascus |
| 2008 | - Composition for piano, brass quintet, vibraphone and percussion in "An Enemy of the People" by Henrik Ibsen – Director: Yasser Abdel Latif - Opera House, Damascus. |
| 2009 | - String Quartet, piano, solo oboe and Chamber Orchestra in "Chekhov" by Talal Nasreddin - Director: Talal Nasreddin - Theater Abu Khalil Al-Qabbani, Damascus |
Musical Theatre (Performances)
| 2011 | - The multifaceted storyteller for flute/speaker, marimba and barrel/speaker, tamtam and barrel/speaker and Tabla/speaker - The speech for a uniform and solo drummer |
| 2012 | Body percussion, washing tub, water, Nargile, two barrels, Vibraphone, Bass Drum and tamtam - Into the ocean for singer/speaker, Snatur/speaker, viola/speaker and bass clarinet/speaker |
References
- ↑ Virtual platform of the Syrian Heritage Initiatives of the Museum for Islamic Art/ Berlin State Museum - „Contemporary Classical Music in Syria“ by Hannibal Saad
- ↑ Silverstein Sh. Hassan Taha: Distending Modal Space // The Arab Avant-Garde: Music, Politics, Modernity. Edited by Thomas Burkhalter, Kay Dickinson and Benjamin J. Harbert. - Middleton, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2013, p. 50
- ↑ Belyaeva E. V. Creativity of Syrian composers: the main ways of development: the second half of the XX - the beginning of the XXI century - Dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Art Criticism - On the rights of the manuscript - Kazan, 2018 - p. 135. (in Russian)
- ↑ Radio SWR classik - Donaueschinger Musiktage - Hassan Taha // Published on September 25, 2012 (in German)
- ↑ „Arab Music Magazine“ - a music magazine published by the Arab Music Society - Arab Music Magazine, Online-Ausgabe, April 11, 2013 (in Arabian)
- ↑ Austrian Association for Contemporary Art and Music Hassan Taha, Composer
- ↑ So I can leave. An intercultural Arabic-Swiss project. Program booklet - Bern, 2011 - p. 5 (in German)
- ↑ Belyaeva E. V. Creativity of Syrian composers: the main ways of development: the second half of the XX - the beginning of the XXI century - Dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Art Criticism - On the rights of the manuscript - Kazan, 2018 - p. 125. (in Russian)
- ↑ Belyaeva E. V. Creativity of Syrian composers: the main ways of development: the second half of the XX - the beginning of the XXI century - Dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Art Criticism - On the rights of the manuscript - Kazan, 2018 - pp. 125-126. (in Russian)
- ↑ Austrian Association for Contemporary Art and Music Concert in the Damascene Opera House
- ↑ Austrian Association for Contemporary Art and Music Donhoffer conducts the Students Orchestra of the High Institute of Music (SOHIM) by Dr. Sadek Pharaon
- ↑ So I can leave. An intercultural Arabic-Swiss project. Program booklet - Bern, 2011 - p. 5 (in German)
- ↑ Beyer, Theresa „It's bubbling inside me all the time“// Internet portal "Norient", September 20, 2013 (in German)
- ↑ Herren, Zora [https://www.jungfrauzeitung.ch/artikel/171995 // Jungfrau Zeitung, online edition, March 3, 2019 (in German)
- ↑ Donaueschinger Musiktage - Hassan Taha SWR klassik, September 25, 2012 (in German)
- ↑ So I can leave. An intercultural Arabic-Swiss project. Program Booklet - Bern, 2011 (in German)
- ↑ Böhler, Wolfgang Syrian-Swiss bridge-building// Swiss music newspaper, online edition, March 28, 2019 (in German)
- ↑ Herren, Zora [https://www.jungfrauzeitung.ch/artikel/171995 // Jungfrau Zeitung, online edition, 3. March 2019 (in German)
- ↑ Rashid Issa / Hassan Taha. Between academic ambition and market conditions //"SawtSoura" Art, Culture and Media Magazine, December 3, 2018 (in Arabian)
- ↑ Läubli, Martina The Word is the engine of music // Neue Zürcher Zeitung, online edition, February 24, 2016 (in German)
External links
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