Byzantine Music Ensemble - Lebanon (BMEL)
Furn El-Chebbak, Salim El-Khoury street, Anwar Lamaa Bldg., 4th floor
Beirut
Lebanon
- Arts
- Heritage
- International/Cultural relations
- Religion
Our mission is to promote music appreciation by educating our youth and reinforcing them with their religious cultures.
We strive to thrive to become a reference school of byzantine chant where we don't only teach reading music notation but we transfer live tradition.
Besides the Byzantine one, we are targeting to integrate and embrace different cultures of the region, including Armenian Orthodox and Islamic ones, that all turn out to be one continuum in essence although sometimes similar and sometimes different in appearance. We aim to illustrate our traditions and disseminate them integrated within a global vision.
The cornerstone that our education encourages youth to imbibe is the tradition. While the cornerstone in practice is to set free from mere notes towards live improvisation.
Our main activities until present time were:
• Performing live services at several churches (Feasts Vespers, Liturgies, all-night Vigils. Etc.).
• Performing live concerts on stage in local and international festivals.
Besides, we have an ongoing project: recording a CD of masterpieces composed by former Arab Antiochian musicians.