Internationally Renowned Composer Halim El-Dabh in Concert March 13   by Charity Johnson ’99
			Halim El-Dabh Photo by Mike Hovancsek The works of renowned composer and ethnomusicologist Halim El-Dabh will be presented in a free, public concert Tuesday, March 13 at 6:30 p.m. in Warner Concert Hall. El-Dabh will also present a lecture on his works and research March 13 at 1:30 p.m. in TIMARA Studio 2 in the Conservatory. El-Dabh’s appearance is the third presentation in a series of lectures and concerts, sponsored by the Contemporary Music Division, featuring renowned composers. A native of Cairo, Egypt, El-Dabh studied with Aaron Copland and Irving Fine, and received two Guggenheim fellowships, two Fulbright fellowships and a Rockefeller fellowship, among many others. An early pioneer of electronic music, El-Dabh began sonic experiments in the 1940s, continuing his work in the 1950s and early 1960s at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. His electronic works feature a marriage of ancient instruments and archaic chanting and drumming combined with purely electronically-produced and modified sounds. Besides work in electronic music, El-Dabh has composed orchestral works, operas, chamber music, and ballets, collaborating on many occasions with choreographer Martha Graham. His music is performed throughout the world, and visitors to the Great Pyramid can experience his Sound and Lights of the Pyramids of Giza. El-Dabh is Emeritus University Professor at Kent State University, where he has served on the faculty since 1969. El-Dabh’s visit to Oberlin is part of a lecture tour and festival coordinated by Kent State University celebrating the composer’s eightieth birthday. In conjunction with the celebration, a compact disc featuring his early electronic music is scheduled for release in 2001.
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