Abdalla El-Masri

Among his honors is an honorable mention in the young composers competition of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory (1988). He has been an active member of the Russian Composers Union since 1998. His music has been performed in Egypt, France, Germany, Kuwait, Lebanon, Russia, and Switzerland.

El-Masri studied guitar with Isaac Escaf at a music school in Hammana from 1977–79 and studied guitar and music theory with Joseph Ashkhanyan at the Centre Culturel Espagnol in Beirut from 1979-82. He then studied composition with Konstantin Batashov and Roman Ledenyov, theory and harmony with Yuri Vorontsov and Yuri Kholopov and orchestration with Nikolai Rakov at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow from 1982–93, where he earned his MFA in 1991 and DMus in 1993.

El-Masri is also active in other positions. He founded the vocal ensemble Al-Jabal in 1977 and wrote songs for it from 1977-82. Later he founded the vocal ensemble Al-Wilada in 1984, which performed in Germany and Russia, and disbanded in 1990. In addition, he has written the books Practical Course of Orchestration (1995, Kuwait Higher Institute of Music) and Instruments of the Orchestra (2001, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Beirut).

As a guitarist, he worked with the Al Mayadeen vocal ensemble (directed by Marcel Khalife) from 1977–82 and also arranged music for this group. He was also active as a guitarist in various ensembles in Lebanon from 1979–82 and toured Europe and the US in 1982. He has taught composition at both the Kuwait Higher Institute of Music in Kuwait City and PAAET Kuwait since 1994. He has also lectured in Kuwait and Russia.

Abdalla Hani El Masri عبدالله هاني المصري (born 1962, Beirut) is a Lebanese-Russian composer, now resident in Kuwait, of mostly orchestral and chamber works that have been performed in Africa, Europe and the Middle East.