On June 10, 2024, the Lebanese American University celebrated its 100-year milestone with a Centennial Tribute concert on its Beirut campus in collaboration with the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music headed by musical composer Hiba Al-Kawas.
The concert featured the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, led by renowned German conductor Christian Schumann and Lebanese American tenor Roy Hage, and the Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music, led by maestro André Hajj.
The cultural celebration was befitting of one of the prestigious Lebanese American academic institutions, especially one that has long advocated for the education and social and economic empowerment of Lebanese and Arab women and became, 100 years later, an institution with international standing.
The event was attended by a large audience that included former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Minister of Information Ziad Makary, Parliamentarians Ibrahim Mneimneh and Elie Khoury, Director of the U.S. Agency for International D
evelopment (USAID) Julie Southfield, representatives of the Lebanese Security Forces, Judge Mahmoud Makié-Head of the Council of Ministers, ambassadors, diplomats, university presidents, media personalities, and LAU alumni and friends.
Opening the celebration, LAU Executive Director of Media and Public Relations Nada Torbey, highlighted the extraordinary event that is the university’s centennial. She also welcomed the National Conservatory represented by the Philharmonic and Oriental Orchestras, whom she described as a strong foundation for the cultural scene in the region. The orchestra, she added, was not exempt from the many challenges Lebanon has faced but came back strong in 2020 under the leadership of Hiba Al-Kawas, composer, soprano, and president of the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music. A documentary, produced by LAU’s Strategic Communications Department tracing the university’s history, innovations, and trajectory over the years was subsequently screened.
LAU President Michel E. Mawa
d addressed his welcoming speech to the friends of LAU. Quoting from a poem by Al-Akhtal Al Saghir about Beirut in 1934, he said: ‘Beirut: O homeland of civilization and intellect, love builds, estrangement destroys.’ Dr. Mawad described LAU as ‘a beacon on a hill in Beirut that has been shining brighter year after year on the capital and its eternal country,’ adding ‘It is our beloved and precious LAU that has turned 100, and still illuminates Lebanon and the whole world from Beirut’s hillside.’
‘This evening,’ said Dr. Mawad, ‘we come together to celebrate LAU’s centennial with music, which has been as fundamental at the university as other disciplines such as medicine, nursing, pharmacy, engineering, business, science and the humanities, of which LAU has graduated thousands of students over the past 100 years.’
He stressed that the university will go down in Lebanese history as ‘a messenger of knowledge and culture,’ adding, ‘be it here on blessed land, or out there; on every land where LAU graduates hav
e shone, LAU will stand as a beacon for innovation.’
During the evening, the Philharmonic Orchestra performed classical compositions by Rossini, Copland, Massenet, Donizetti, Mahler, Brahms and Puccini, and a modern piece by Al- Kawas, titled Pleusis No. 1 Movement 1.
The Oriental Orchestra led by Hajj featured work by Ziad Rahbani, Walid Gholmieh, and Wadih Al-Safi sung by Antoine Wadih Al-Safi. The celebration also included special readings of Henry Zoghaib’s poetry by actors Rifaat Torbey and Zalfa Chelhot.
The ceremony concluded with a performance by soprano Al-Kawas of a song she had composed and that was written by the former Saudi ambassador to Lebanon, poet Abdul Aziz Khoja, titled Lubnan ‘Ud Amalan.
In closing, Dr. Mawad presented Al-Kawas with the university’s centennial trophy in appreciation of her contributions and creativity.
Source: National News Agency – Lebanon