The eighth Beirut Chants Festival is set to ring in the holiday season with 23 days of concerts in the run-up to Christmas Eve.
As its name implies, the annual festival will be heavily inclined toward vocal and choral works, although it will also include orchestral and other string offerings.
It will open on Dec. 1 with a combination of local and Italian talent performing Puccini’s “Messa di Gloria,” which the Italian opera great composed as a graduation project at the Istituto Musicale Pacini. The performance will feature Lebanese tenor Bechara Mouffarej, Italian baritone Salvatore Grigoli and bass Carlo Maliverno, accompanied by the Université Antonine and Notre Dame University choirs and Palermo’s Orchestra Giovanile Mediterranea.
Internationally renowned French harpist Xavier De Maistre will return to Beirut, plucking classics adapted for the harp such as Khatchaturian’s “Danse Orientale” and “Toccata,” and Walter-Kühne’s “Fantasy on the Themes of [Tchaikovsky’s] ‘Eugene Onegin.’”
The festival has also attracted international piano virtuosos, such as Belgian’s Julien Libeer, who in 2008 won the Juventus Prize at age 20, and Russia’s Alexander Ghindin, who at the tender age of 17 won the 1994 International Tchaikovsky prize. Libeer will perform a solo concert and another with the Avanesyan Piano Trio, which includes the Armenian brothers Hrachya, on violin, and Sevak, on cello.
While various international performers dot the program, most of the 28 concerts feature local artists and choirs. The festival would not be complete without the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, which will perform the world premiere of a piano concerto by renowned Lebanese organist Naji Hakim.
For those looking for more direct Christmas fare, soprano Samar Salamé and a half dozen other soloists, backed by the Université Antonine choir, will perform a concert that combines Mozart arias and Christmas carols.
Many local cultural festivals have been framed in terms of Lebanese “coexistence” and “resilience,” and Beirut Chants organizers depict their event in similar terms.
“Beirut will chant to confirm that Lebanese peace, love and moderation,” founder Micheline Abi Samra said, “and despite all conflicts around us, the warmth of faith will be stronger.”
MP Bahia Hariri said that the festival “celebrates Christmas values and it reflects the spirit of national unity where this year Christmas Day coincides with Prophet Mohammad’s birthday.”
Beirut Chants runs from Dec. 1-23 at various churches across the city. For more information, visit www.beirutchants.com.
