Awatef Abdel Karim ( ar, عواطف عبدالكريم; 8 February 1931 - 24 April 2021) was an Egyptian composer of
contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included seria ...
. Karim was the first
Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
female
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
to formally study
music composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called c ...
.
She composed for
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
,
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
,
choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...
, and
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
, and also wrote music for children. In 1991, she succeeded
Gamal Abdel-Rahim
Gamal Abdel-Rahim ( ar, جمال عبد الرحيم ) (November 25, 1924 Cairo – November 23, 1988 Königstein/Germany) was a distinguished Egyptian classical music composer, and composition professor.
Life and career
Abdel-Rahim was born ...
as chairman of the composition and conducting department of the
Cairo Conservatoire The Cairo Conservatoire ( ar, معهد الكونسرفتوار; transliteration: ''Ma'had el-Konservatwar''; full name: "المعهد العالي للموسيقى "الكونســرفاتوار) is the primary music conservatory in Egypt. It was ...
, serving in that position until 1997. A revised edition of her book, ''Music Appreciation of Nineteenth Century Music'' was published in 2005 in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
. She was awarded the State Merit Award in June 2006.
Her notable students include Ahmed El-Saedi,
Ali Osman
Ali Osman is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Nejdet Salih. He was a member of the original ''EastEnders'' cast, appearing in the first episode on 19 February 1985. He remained with the show for nearly fi ...
, and
Mohamed Abdelwahab Abdelfattah
Mohamed Abdelwahab Abdelfattah ( ar, محمد عبدالوهاب عبدالفتاح; born 1962) is an Egyptian composer of contemporary classical music and educator. He is a member of Egypt's third generation of classical composers.
Biography
...
.
Compositions
*''Nine Pieces for Children'', piano
See also
*
List of Egyptian composers
The following is a list of Egyptian music composers.
Pioneers
According to the work of the Egyptian musicologist Samha El-Kholy, the first generation of Egyptians to begin writing in modern Egyptian classical style were born around the turn ...
*
Music of Egypt
Music has been an integral part of Egyptian culture since antiquity in Egypt. Egyptian music had a significant impact on the development of ancient Greek music, and via the Greeks it was important to early European music well into the Middle A ...
References
External links
AAWM article mentioning Awatef Abdel Karim
Egyptian composers
Women classical composers
1931 births
2021 deaths
20th-century classical composers
Place of birth missing
Place of death missing
Egyptian women musicians
20th-century Egyptian musicians
21st-century Egyptian musicians
21st-century women musicians
20th-century women composers
{{Egypt-bio-stub