Lebanese composer Naji Hakim (b. 1955).
He is one of the most important representatives of the great French tradition of organist-composer-improvisers of our time. He studied with J. Langlais and at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris under R. Boutry, J.-C. Henry, M. Bitsch, R. Falcinelli, J. Castérède and S. Nigg, where he was awarded seven first prizes. He is a licentiate teacher in organ from the Trinity College of Music in London and won nine first prizes at international organ and composition competitions. In 1991 he was awarded the Prix André Caplet from the Académie des Beaux-Arts.
Originally organist of the Basilique du Sacré- Coeur, Paris, from 1985 until 1993, he later succeeded Olivier Messiaen at l’église de la Trinité. He is Professor of Musical Analysis at the Conservatoire National de Boulogne-Billancourt, and Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London. He is a graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications in Paris, a member of the Consociatio Internationalis Musicae Sacrae in Rome and Doctor honoris causa of the University Saint-Esprit of Kaslik, Lebanon.
In 2007, His Holiness the Pope Benedictus XVI awarded Naji Hakim the Augustae crucis insigne pro Ecclesia et Pontifice. His works include instrumental music (organ, flute, bassoon, horn, trumpet, harp, guitar, violin, piano), symphonic music (Les Noces de l’Agneau, Hymne de l’Univers, Ouverture Libanaise, Påskeblomst, four organ concertos and a violin concerto), and vocal music (the oratorio Saul de Tarse, the cantata Phèdre, Magnificat and three masses).
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