Bahaa El ANSARY (Egypt) – Contemporary/New Music

LOCATION: AUC Falaki Theater

LOST (You may lose yourself along the way)
LOST is a collection of four pieces written between 2014-2016. The pieces are linked together in a larger musical form, which is performed throughout the whole concert, with acting segments taking place in-between.

PROGRAM:

The Art of Mist (2014) Egypt Premiere 
Trio for Violin, Cello & Harp

NIGHTMARE (2015) Egypt Premiere 
Trio for Violin, Cello & Guitar

The Art of the ‘je ne sais quoi’ (2014) World Premiere 
Solo Cello, Commissioned by Hassan Hosney

LOST (2015-2016) World Premiere
Solo Harp & 30 Cello (divided into six cello quintets), Commissioned by NeamTarek


MUSICIANS:

Neam Tarek – Harpist

Cesar Mora – Guitarist 

Mohamed-Aly Farag – Violinist 

Hassan Hosney – Cellist & Actor

An ensemble of thirty Cellists is invited by Harpist Neam Tarek to participate in the performance of the concert’s closing piece.


BIOGRAPHY:

Bahaa El-Ansary is a young composer from Egypt, born in Cairo, 1991. His formal musical education began at the Higher Institute of Arabic Music in Cairo, where he studied Nay (Arabic Flute). He then studied composition under Ezz El-Din Selim, going on to study Theory of Music in Trinity College London. 

As a scholar of the Institut Français d’Egypte he studied at Conservatoire de Bordeaux under Jean-Louis Agobet, and Conservatoire de Boulogne-Billancourt under Jean-Luc Hervé.

His music is rooted in Arabic tradition, but influenced by a list of master composers, such as GyörgyLigeti, Iannis Xenakis and John Cage, as well as many of Spectral Music and Avant-Garde music techniques.

He has participated in many masterclasses and workshops with both Egyptian and European composers, with a special debt to the Cairo Contemporary Music Days, which began his involvement with the contemporary music scene.

Bahaa's work, which he calls “Energetic Music,” has been performed in Egypt, Italy, Iceland, UK, Austria, France, Singapore and Lebanon.