Naji Hakim

Naji Hakim was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1955. From 1975, he studied organ with J. Langlais in Paris, and continued his musical studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, in the classes of 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 of organ at Trinity College of Music in London and has won ten first prizes at international organ and composition competitions. In 1991 he was awarded the Prix André Caplet from the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Hakim was organist of the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, Paris from 1985 until 1993, when he succeeded Olivier Messiaen at the Eglise de la Trinité, a position that he held until 2008. He is professor of musical analysis at the Conservatoire National de Région de Boulogne-Billancourt, and in 2001 was Composer in Residence at Trinity College of Music, London. He is a graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications in Paris, 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 Benediktus XVI awarded Naji Hakim the Augustae crucis insigne pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, for his excellent commitment to and work for the benefit of the Church and the Holy Father.

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, a violin concerto), and vocal music (oratorio Saul de Tarse, cantata Phèdre, Magnificat and three masses).