Ghada Ghanem

Ghada Ghanem, one of the Semi-finalists at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions 1996/ Eastern region in NYC, is a Higher Lebanese National Conservatory graduate, with a Bachelor of Arts in Law/ St. Joseph University/Lebanon and a Master's in Vocal Performance/ Rice University in Houston, TX. Her Houston Grand Opera Début was in Le Nozze di Figaro in 1991. Miss Ghanem had won the Encouragement Award from the Wagner Society, in NYC/1995. She has also concertized in Russia, Japan, Lebanon, Canada, and the USA at major concert halls like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Museum, Dag Hammerjskold Auditorium, the General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters, Symphony Space, CAMI Hall, Merkin Hall, MIT Univ., Detroit Museum, George Washington Univ., Ann Arbor, Agnes Scott college in Atlanta, The Museum of civilizations in Ottawa, Univ. of Massachusetts, Theatre Maisonneuve in Place des Arts/Montreal. in the Tchaikovsky Hall /Moscow and in Act City Hall in Hamamatsu /Japan, The Royal Palace Theater/ Amman, The International Damascus Festival, the Babylon Festival in Iraq, and King’s College in Cambridge. Ms. Ghanem always wanted to stay in touch with her rich Arabic music heritage. She was so attracted by the quarter tones in Arabic music, that she also studied in-depth and privately the classical Arabic singing that expands from the Andalusian Muwashah, to all other forms like the Mawal, the Taqtooka, the Qasida and the Duets. It has been her joy and passion to be able to express herself in her own mother tongue. She is known to be able to switch so easily from singing any Puccini aria to a great Muwashah with being faithful to both techniques. She can be heard in ‘After Black Room’, a composition by Sarah Plant (A Middle Eastern Chant on Robaiyyat Omar Al-Khayyam), commissioned by Bill T. Jones Dance Group, New York - 1996. Also her CDs are on CDBaby.com and Youtube.com/ghadaghanem ‘Come ready and see me’ – ‘Ornina’ - ‘Reehet Shiti or Smell of rain’ - ‘Ave Maria’ - “Lavender Lullabies” The Lebanese National Conservatory where she teaches also published her book on the basics of singing - “The Land of Singing”, in Arabic. I encourage singers to sing any genre they like and invite them to get to know and appreciate the quarter tone in our Arabic Music.