Layale Chaker

Born in Paris but raised in Lebanon from the age of 6, composer and violinist Layale Chaker was raised speaking multiple languages, both linguistically and musically. Her complex sound universe, described by NPR as “beguiling” with “bright and beautiful strands… gorgeous, wine-dark swirls,” lies at the intersection of classical contemporary music, jazz, Arabic music, and improvisation. A 2020-2022 Jerome Hill Fellow, Chaker is also recipient of the 2022 Opera America Discovery 2022 Award, among many other accolades.

To open Chaker’s 2023-2024 season, Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra presents the world premiere of Dawning, her double concerto for clarinet, violin and orchestra, co-commissioned with the New York Philharmonic and Nebraska Crossroads Music Festival. The New York Philharmonic performs the piece one week later. Featuring the composer as violin soloist alongside clarinetist and husband Kinan Azmeh, Dawning is a musical love letter to the innocent children who have joined earthside amid trying times, drawing inspiration from the many lullabies the couple has been singing to their new son. Chaker describes her central image as “resilient seedlings sprouting from the cracks of leaden landscapes, symbolizing the enduring spirit of life and the promise of a new dawn. It's a testament to the human capacity to create and nurture life, even in the face of adversities, and a poignant reminder that even in the darkest of times, there is room for joy, love, and the promise of a brighter future.”

Ruinous Gods, Chaker’s debut full-length chamber opera in collaboration with librettist Lisa Schlesinger, will see its world premiere at the 2024 Spoleto Festival, followed by its European premiere at Wuppertal Opera in the fall of 2024. Developed by Chaker during her 2021 residency at Dumbarton Oaks, Ruinous Gods uses elements from myths and fairy tales to create a 21st-century fantasia exploring how mass displacement triggers profound psychological trauma among its youngest sufferers. 2024 also brings the release of a new double portrait album on In a Circle Records, one disc featuring Chaker’s classical works performed by the ETHEL Quartet, and the other a complementary portrait with Chaker’s chamber jazz quintet, Sarafand.

This double release reflects on the intertwined destinies of people and the natural world, which manifest even louder in times of collective pain; a commentary on the ebb and flow of politics of power and conflict that further the vulnerability of the land and those who tend to it. In February 2024, Sarafand takes on a residency with the University of Richmond – exemplifying the quintet’s role within the “cultural aquifer,” or educational feeder system for future artists. Sarafand recently completed a year-long residency as part of WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab, yielding a program of new works – called Radio Afloat – that has been recorded for an upcoming album release.

Among her recent engagements, Chaker premiered a new work for violin and choir at Morgenland Festival Osnabruck in Germany with the choral ensemble Capella Amsterdam. Her many collaborations include projects with 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, with featured performances at the Berlin Philharmonic, Abbaye de Royaumont, Hancher, The Stone, National Sawdust, Royal Albert Hall, and Wigmore Hall. She has also worked with Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. This experience inspired a composition in honor of Edward Saïd, the eminent academic, critic and activist who cofounded the orchestra. Commissioned and premiered by the Détours de Babel Festival in 2022, Chaker’s work In the Presence of Absence - In Memoriam Edward Saïd captures Saïd’s lifelong engagement with music and culture.

With Sarafand, her key touring project, Chaker has performed throughout the U.S., Europe and the Middle East, appearing at the London Jazz Festival, Brighton Festival, New Sounds WNYC, and many others. Among many high-profile past bookings, Sarafand was featured at the 2022 Classical:NEXT Showcase in Germany, with concerts in France and the Netherlands.

Chaker’s debut album Inner Rhyme – recorded with Sarafand and released on In a Circle Records (2019) – was named "Top of The World" by Songlines, ranked #2 on NPR’s 10 Best Releases, lived at #1 for several weeks on Amazon Music, and received rave reviews by The New York Times, BBC Music Magazine, Strings Magazine, Jazz World, and many others. Composed between Beirut, Paris and London from 2016-2018 and recorded in New York over the summer of 2018, the album unveils musical threads that are mapped through the rhythmical cycles of the twelve classical Arabic poetic meters, the fluidity of oral and free forms, the abstraction of language into the physical contour of verses and the percussive potential of words.

Chaker commenced her musical training at the National Higher Conservatory of Beirut in her native country, before pursuing higher degrees at the Conservatoire de Paris and the Royal Academy of Music in London. She is a Laureate of the 2019 Concours international de Chant-Piano Nadia et Lili Boulanger; Finalist of the 2018 Rolex Mentor & Protege Prize; winner of the 2017 Ruth Anderson Competition; and recipient of the 2019 Diaphonique Franco-British Commission Prize, the 2018 Arab Fund for Arts and Culture Grant and the 2018 Royal Academy of Music Guinness Award.