About this Artist

NAJI SUBHY PAUL IRÉNÉE HAKIM was born in Beirut on October 31, 1955. He studied with J. Langlais at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and was 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 in organ from the Trinity College of Music in London and won nine first prizes at international organ and composition competitions. In 1991 he was awarded the Prix André Caplet from the Académie des Beaux-Arts.

He was organist of the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur, Paris from 1985 until 1993, and then became organist of l’église de la Trinité, in succession to Olivier Messiaen, from 1993 until 2008. He is professor of musical analysis at the Conservatoire National de Région de Boulogne-Billancourt, and visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London. He is a graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications in Paris, a 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 Hakim The Augustae crucis insigne pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, for his excellent commitment 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, and piano), symphonic music (Les Noces de l’Agneau, Hymne de l’Univers, Ouverture Libanaise, Påskeblomst, four organ concertos, and a violin concerto), and vocal music (oratorio Saul de Tarse, cantata Phèdre, Magnificat, and three masses).