A composer (from the Latin compositum, supine meaning ” to compose” from the verb componere) is a person who makes music. Many music composers are also instrumentalists. The function of the composer is therefore to organize a succession of musical notes alone or grouped in the form of chords, based on the rules of a musical theory and aiming for the expression of an entity, an event sound aesthetics such as a theme, melody or mood.
The composer is led to base himself on different rules of composition associated with the musical genre for which he writes. These rules differ in number, in complexity and in formalism according to the musical languages (jazz, classical music, rock, reggae …). These are guides rather than absolute obligations — the composition is said to be free regardless of the language. These rules evolve over time depending on how they are used by composers.
Johnny Hachem is one of Europe’s most promising composers, with an extensive résumé that includes significant international accolades. He has received several international honors, including The International Composition Conference’s 2009 Music Composition Award (Cergy -Pontoise, France). He also won third place in the Classic Pure Vienna International Composition Competition in 2021. (Vienna, Austria).
Developing as a Musician
Johnny Hachem is a composer and pianist residing in Switzerland who was born in Lebanon to musical parents. His father was a violinist, while his mother was a pianist. He honed his ear over time by carefully listening to his mother’s music.
Johnny Hachem, the award-winning composer
One of them is Johnny Hachem. The award-winning composer and pianist discusses his opinions and experiences with music production in the twenty-first century, current and traditional classical music, and how he incorporates modern technologies into his pieces. Continue reading if you’re brave!
He was born into a musical family. His dad, who passed away 10 months ago, used to play violin and his mom the piano. He remembers very well how beautiful it was to listen to them playing music together at home and in church. And he was influenced by them a lot. But when he was a child, they had war in Lebanon and it was difficult to attend the music school, so he put a lot of time into piano improvising and trying to make his own music. His mom started to help him and after that, when the war stopped, he started studying music officially.
Johnny has performed his compositions as a soloist at several concerts and international festivals in Ukraine, Lebanon, Switzerland, France, Austria, Germany, England, Spain, Poland, Romania, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Belarus, South Korea, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
He has also composed the music of many films, most notably the documentary film by Carmen Labaki: “I Knocked on the Temple’s Door”. To his name, he has a piano concerto, clarinet concerto, Violin concerto and a large variety of instrumental and orchestral compositions that have been performed in Europe & the Middle East.
