Joelle Khoury

Education & Diplomas

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PhD in Philosophy, Lebanese University, Lebanon.
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Master's degree, Philosophy, Saint-Joseph University, Lebanon.
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Bachelor degree, Economics and Musicology, George Mason University, United States of America.
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Diploma, Playing and teaching piano, Lebanese National Conservatory, Lebanon.

Previous Professions

  • Lecturer, American University of Beirut.
  • Lecturer, Lebanese American University.
  • Piano teacher, 1994 - present, Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music.
  • Lecturer, 1994 - present, Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music.

Honorary Office & Memberships

  • Initiator and President of "Meet The Composer", an organization aiming to promote Lebanese contemporary composers, 2009.
  • Member of Eka3, 2008 - present.

Major Achievements

  • Founded In-Version (a Jazz quintet dedicated to performing original Jazz compositions), 1995.

Field(s) of Expertise

Music Composer ( jazz and classical music)ElectroacousticsPianistPhilosophy

Exhibitions, Lectures & Performances

  • Monthly lectures around specific musical topics, ASSABIL Public Library, Monot.
  • Of sounds and letters: conference given to the doctoral students in literature at the Lebanese University Doctoral School (October 2018).
  • The Dionysian and the Apollonian in Carmen of Bizet, inspired by Nietzsche. Conference given in 2017, at the Lebanese University Doctoral School.
  • History a Divine Poem: article commissioned by the Lucerne University, relating Bach to Leibniz, for the inauguration of their new department: Music and Theology. Published October 2015 (Grunewald).
  • Of Arab Composers Today, commissioned by AFAC, the Arab Fund for Culture meeting 2011.
  • “Bach/Leibniz/Kandinsky: the Unique and the Multiple” conference, Lebanese National Conservatory, December 2007.
  • “My Body Myself and I”, conference in the company of Arab cultural journalists, (about a crisis of subjectivity throughout the history of music) Zawaya: 2006.
  • “About women composers in the Arab world” (Freemuse conference) 2005.
  • “Time Goes One Way” (against classification of art). Heinrich Boll Foundation Lebanon.

Community Involvement

In the past few years, Joelle Khoury's music has been performed and/or recorded or broadcasted, sometimes with a portrait of my personal course of life, in several European countries including: Austria, Germany, France, Belgium and Switzerland. The public is often surprised that the music they just heard was composed by an Arab woman. Joelle considers this to be her greatest accomplishment in the field, as she believes that being positively active (and not activist) and producing quality is the greatest means of changing attitudes towards women.