In Tuesday’s (9/8) News & Record (Greensboro, North Carolina), Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane writes, “A symphony orchestra concert changed Fouad Fakhouri’s perspective on music. He was only 11, growing up amid tumult in civil war-torn Beirut. The fourth generation in a line of musicians and composers, he was studying piano as expected. And disliking the solitary nature of lessons and practice. … Then an orchestra came from Vienna to perform. It opened his eyes and ears as he watched musicians enjoy making beautiful music together. … A quarter-century later, Fakhouri, who turns 37 next week, has made orchestral conducting and composing his career. He brings that expertise to his new post as this season’s principal guest conductor of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra. He will divide his time between Greensboro and the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, where he starts his sixth season as music director. … He was three when the Lebanese civil war started. When the U.S. Embassy was bombed in 1983, it blew out the windows of his home. … ‘That’s why I believe in things like a youth orchestra. Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of these options.’ ”
Posted September 9, 2009
