Rami Khalifé

Rami Khalifé (born September 25, 1981) is a French-Lebanese composer and pianist. Early life and education Khalifé was born in Beirut, Lebanon, into a family of musicians. His father is musician Marcel Khalifé and his mother is vocalist Yolla Khalifé. His brother is the percussionist Bachar Mar-Khalifé. Khalifé lived in Beirut until the age of eight when his family moved to Paris as part of a large wave of Lebanese people emigrating to France during the Lebanese Civil War. He eventually got French citizenship. In Paris, Khalifé attended the Conservatoire National de Région de Boulogne-Billancourt where he studied piano with Louis-Claude Thirion and Marie-Paule Siruguet, and later with Lebanese pianist Abd El Rahman El Bacha. Khalifé was awarded first place on piano and a degree in music theory. In 2000, Khalifé moved to New York City to study piano with Hungarian pianist Gyorgy Sandor at the Juilliard School of Music. He graduated in 2003. Career In Paris before college, Khalifé won piano competitions at Radio France, at the UFAM Competition, and at the Claude Kahn International Piano Competition. In 1994, he performed at the Gaveau Music Hall. He toured the Middle East with the Boulogne-Billancourt Orchestra, where he performed the Rachmaninov piano concerto No. 4 and Ravel's piano concerto in G. Khalifé has performed in the Middle East and the United States as a solo artist as well as with clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, often playing classical works as well as improvised compositions. Khalifé performed in Brazil with Brazilian cellist Fabio Presgrave. While at Juilliard, Khalifé met pianist Francesco Tristano. They performed several improvised concerts for piano-duo and began what would be a long-term creative collaboration. Khalifé also performed improvised concerts for two pianos at Juilliard with pianist Francesco Schlimé. Khalifé has released multiple live and studio records as a solo artist.