Bilal Alnemr was born in Damascus in 1996. He discovered the violin thanks to a small toy violin given to him by his father and he continued to learn alone using only a DVD. Bilal won the Syrian national violin competition in 2007 and the Solhi Alwadi competition, and has since given concerts across India, Russia, Qatar, Jordan and Lebanon. Following his participation in the Mediterranean cultural exchange ECUME, he joined the conservatory of Aix-en-Provence in the class of Sophie Baduel and moved to Paris in 2012 to study with Suzanne Gessner at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris.  Four years later, he graduated from the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP) where he studied with Roland Daugareil and Olivier Charlier. He then joined the Barenboïm-Saïd Academy in Berlin to perfect his skills with Michael & Daniel Barenboïm. 

Bilal recently made his debut with the ORF Radio Symphonie Orchester Wien, under the direction of Thomas Zehetmair. Since the age of sixteen, his professional career has brought many successful collaborations, including performances alongside Renaud Capuçon, Hélène Grimaud, Barbara Hendricks and Daniel Barenboim. A special place in his repertoire goes to concertos for violin and orchestra. He is also very interested and curious to learn from the modern and contemporary repertoire, often performing programmes including works such as Anthème I and II by Pierre Boulez, as well as Sequenza by Luciano Berio. As an orchestral and chamber musician, Bilal Alnemr regularly plays in the Boulez Ensemble of Berlin and in the West-Eastern Divan Ensemble. Furthermore, Bilal has been a member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra since 2018.

In July 2022, he created Les Rencontres Musicales de Vauvenargues, a musical festival aimed at thanking this Provençal village for having welcomed his family fleeing the war in Syria. Bilal also co-founded UGARIT, a non-profit association aimed at developing cultural exchanges in the field of music, between Syria, France and the rest of the world.

Bilal Alnemr plays a 1774 Lorenzo Carcassi violin generously lent by Michael Barenboim.

Violin

Bilal Alnemr

Syrian violinist Bilal Alnemr kickstarts his time on the Classeek Ambassador Programme with a selection of sonatas by Schumann, Fauré and 20th-century Syrian composer Solhi al-Wadi. 

Opening the programme is Schumann’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in A minor, a piece written at the tail end of Schumann’s life, long after his other chamber works. Unlike these, the sonata is set in three movements as opposed to the usual four, with the central Allegretto combining the stylings of both a slow and scherzo movement. The surging main theme shows off the rich sonorities of the violin, particularly in the first movement where the low registers of both violin and piano are exploited. The second movement is faster paced, with short phrases, more frequent tempo changes and barlines hidden with syncopations and overlapping phrases. The perpetually moving finale sees the melody passed back and forth between the two instruments, before a dramatic final flourish. 

While Schumann’s sonata was one of his later successes, Fauré’s First Violin Sonata marked a turning point in his career, with fame coming rather late to the French composer. The sonata quickly made its way into the programmes of some of Europe’s top performers, including Ysaÿe, Enescu and Saint-Saëns, who was Fauré’s former piano teacher and a notable fan of his work. It was Saint-Saëns who introduced Fauré to the French mezzo-soprano Pauline Viardot and her daughter Marianne, with whom Fauré quickly fell in love. The violin sonata was dedicated to her brother, Paul Viardot, who gave the premiere of the piece with Fauré himself on the piano. 

To complete this evening’s programme, Alnemr tips his hat to a fellow Syrian musician, Solhi al-Wadi. Having been born in Iraq, al-Wadi moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He spent the rest of his life in Syria, where he was a significant champion of opera and music in the country. He campaigned for the opening of various musical institutes and the Damascus Opera House, and also helped form the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra.

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Bilal Alnemr, violin
Giuseppe Mentuccia, piano

Duo Recital

09.03.23

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