Press
“Hear [the Duo Kalysta] if you can, either in concert or this way.”
— Gorman, American Record Guide
May-June 2020 (about the recording Origins)
“Deutsch, a player who can soften or strengthen her handsome tone according to need, is very much in the first chair.”
— Arthur Kaptainis, La Scena Musicale
February 2020
"Deutsch revealed new worlds of colour and meaning in every single note ... an astonishing artist"
— Scott Tresham, Senior Producer at CBC Music
“Hear [the Duo Kalysta] if you can, either in concert or this way.”
— Gorman, American Record Guide
May-June 2020 (about the recording Origins)
“Deutsch, a player who can soften or strengthen her handsome tone according to need, is very much in the first chair.”
— Arthur Kaptainis, La Scena Musicale
February 2020
"Deutsch revealed new worlds of colour and meaning in every single note ... an astonishing artist"
— Scott Tresham, Senior Producer at CBC Music
Read more
Programmes and Projects
Audio
Discography
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About Layale Chaker
HIGHLIGHTS
Dumbarton Oaks Artist in Residence 2021-2022
WQXR 2022 Artist Propulsion Lab Member
World Premiere of Ruinous Gods at Spoleto Festival
Deemed a "Rising Star" by BBC Music Magazine, violinist and composer Layale Chaker was raised on the verge of several musical streams since her childhood. She debuted her musical training at the National Higher Conservatory of Beirut in her native Lebanon, Conservatoire de Paris and the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Layale's musical world lies at the intersection of classical contemporary music, Jazz, Arabic Music, and improvisation. As a violinist and composer, she has worked with Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Ziad Rahbani, Johnny Gandelsman, Holland Baroque, Oxford Orchestra, New World Symphony, London Jazz Festival, Alderburgh Festival, Junger Kunstler Festival Bayreuth, Lucerne Festival, Beethoven Festival Bonn and Avignon Festival among others, with features at The Berlin Philharmonic, Abbaye de Royaumont, Hancher, The Stone, National Sawdust, Royal Albert Hall and the Wigmore Hall.
This season has seen her complete a year-long residency at WQXR, where she premiered a new work with her chamber jazz quintet ; a recording with string quartet ETHEL, to be released in 2023 ; and a first public reading of "Ruinous Gods", her debut opera commissioned by Spoleto Festival. She is also due to premiere a new work for violin and choir at Morgenland Festival Osnabruck with the choral ensemble
Capella Amsterdam.
A 2020-2022 Jerome Hill Fellow, Layale is also recipient of the Opera America Dicovery 2022 award, Nadia et Lili Boulanger 2019 laureate, finalist of the Rolex Mentor & Protege 2018 Prize, the recipient of the Diaphonique Franco-British Commission Prize 2019, the 2018 Arab Fund for Arts and Culture Grant, the Royal Academy of Music 2018 Guinness Award, and the winner of the Ruth Anderson 2017
Competition.
FAITS SAILLANTS
Artiste en résidence 2021-2022 à Dumbarton Oaks
Membre du Artist Propulsion Lab WQXR 2022
Première mondiale de l'opéra Ruinous Gods au Festival Spoleto
À la lisière entre la musique classique contemporaine, du jazz, du Maqam arabe et de l'improvisation, l'univers musical de la compositrice et violoniste libanaise, Layale Chaker est décrit comme étant "envoûtant", "innovant et vibrant", et d'une "pure poésie". En tant que violoniste et compositrice, elle a reçu des commandes d'ensembles majeurs, ce qui l'a mené a présenté ses performances et projets à travers l'europe, le moyen-orient, l'asie et les amériques du nord et du sud comme soliste et avec son ensemble Sarafand.
Son premier album avec Sarafand, Inner Rhyme, récipiendaire du fonds AFAC 2018, est paru sur In a Circle Records en 2019. Consacré aux sonorités, rythmes et formes de la poésie arabe, l'album a, entre autres, reçu les éloges de BBC Music Magazine, New York Times, The Strad, Strings Magazine, et Jazz World. Layale a présenté un concert numérique avec Sarafand au Hancher Auditorium de IOWA en avril 2021.
Son opéra Ruinous Gods: Suites pour enfants endormis, avec un livret de Lisa Schlesinger, est actuellement en développement. Cet opéra-théatre porte sur sur sept enfants déplacés atteints du uppgivenhetssyndrom (ou syndrome de résignation) une rare réaction psychosomatique suite à un traumatisme subi dans les limbes du déplacement ou de la migration forcée.
Une de ses plus récentes compositions, En présence de l'absence, est une œuvre de mise en scène de 36 minutes pour ensemble à cordes, bande de piano et électronique, utilisant des archives d'enregistrements audio inédits de récitals de piano donnés par Edward Said.