Abdel Rahman El Bacha

Lebanon's Abdel Rahman El Bacha is among the leading pianists to have emerged from the Middle East in the 20th century. He has an unusually large repertory of concertos and solo works stretching from Bach to Prokofiev. El Bacha was born in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 23, 1958. His father, Taufic El Basha, was a noted composer and conductor, and his mother, known as Widad, was a popular Lebanese-Jewish singer who was frequently heard on Lebanese radio. She did not read music, and El Bacha pointed to that as an influence on his belief that it was important to learn music by ear...