Johnny Hachem or the growth of a talented composer: Johnny Hachem is a Switzerland based composer and pianist, who was born in Lebanon to parents of musical backgrounds. His father played Violin while his mother had a great talent for Piano. He developed an impeccable ear refined over time listening carefully to his mom’s music. He grew up surrounded by sounds, music sheets as well chords which served an important role during his childhood years due to war-torn country’s complicated politics. However, whenever fire ceased he would play piano left handed even if it meant practicing alone! See additional info at Johnny Hachem.
I love that everything I do is to be original and unique and not only to follow the music market. At the same time I profit from the technology and the new softwares to the maximum. For example, a few years ago, I composed the orchestral music for a documentary film using only the VST instruments. I believe that I must gain from anything that can make the composition process smoother and faster but it must always meet uniqueness and genuine originality.
He also composed a very successful orchestral piece, ‘The Battle of Siddim’, now known as ‘The Valley of the Dead Sea.’ This composition has been chosen and performed by The Lebanese Philharmonic, Lebanon, Lublin Philharmonic, Koshalin Symphony & Torun Symphony orchestra in Poland in just one year. Oriental Piano Project is one of the most uniquely composed tunes he has worked on. For that, he chose a good number of old traditional songs from the Orient that had never been written for the piano before. The project became extremely successful as these arrangements were performed in more than 15 countries in the last 12 years and were greatly admired by the audience.
Let’s have some fun: Douglas Adams said Bach invented blues. I tend to agree with him. What about you? Johnny Hachem: I definitely agree! For example, the American Jazz composer and pianist, the founder of the “Modern Jazz Quartet” was heavily influenced by Bach. He did a Jazz album of Bach compositions “Blues on Bach” and The American Jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter & composer Ornette Coleman did many solos on Bach’s Prelude in C major. For me, Bach is the father of all music genres.
Mingle Music UK, wrote about him: To his name, he has a piano concerto, clarinet concerto and a large variety of instrumental and orchestral compositions that have been performed in Lebanon and Europe. Johnny is also a professor at the Lebanese Higher National Conservatory of Music. He has achieved a Masters degree in composition with distinction. It is true that nurturing talent takes practice, dedication, willingness to sacrifice and, of course, determination to keep the goal clear, even when the spot gets tight. When it comes to utter devotion and perseverance, Johnny Hachem, a Lebanese-Ukrainian composer and pianist, is one musician who has proved that with hard work, you can achieve anything in life.
It is good to meet different, unique, creative artists, musicians. Johnny Hachem is one of them. The award-winning composer, pianist shares his thoughts and experiences on music creation in the 21st century, the contemporary and old time classical music and how he combines the modern technology with his compositions. Be brave and read on! And while you are at it, listen to Johnny Hachem‘s Jacob & Rachel, The Love Story, great treat for the ears!