From The Daily Star: Classical music concert brings Spain, Lebanon closer together

BEIRUT: Spanish pianist Jose Enrique Bagaria Villazan and Lebanese violinist Claude Chalhoub performed a concert at the Grand Serail Friday night, sponsored by the Spanish Embassy and the Cervantes Institute.

The pair performed four pieces, beginning with “Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major,” one of the best known compositions of Belgian composer Cesar Franck, which he wrote in 1886. Villazan and Chalhoub moved on with a pair of dissonant 20th-century works – Spanish composer Manuel de Falla’s “Fantasia Betica” for piano alone, composed in 1919, and Maurice Ravel’s “Tzigane,” composed in 1924.

The duet’s performances have been featured in several film scores, including Sean Penn’s 2007 film “Into the Wild” and Nadine Labaki’s 2007 feature film debut “Caramel.”

Friday evening’s concert set out to symbolize the close relationship between Lebanon and Spain, with the aim of transcending cultural and language barriers through music.

For more, please see this: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Performance/2012/Jan-23/160736-classical-music-concert-brings-spain-lebanon-closer-together.ashx#axzz1kAlULqXp