Sweet Geriatrics

Born in New York, Waleed Howrani was raised in Beirut where he studied piano, theory and harmony privately while engaging in trials of his first Opuses. At 15, he won scholarships to study piano at Moscow's Central Music School and the Tchaikovsky Conservatory (1964 -1973), three years of which under the tutelage of Emil Gilels. By age 19, Howrani had received the Certificate of Honor at the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition and the Laureate at the Queen Elizabeth International Piano Competition, paving the way to concert tours in the former Soviet Union, East and West Europe, the Middle East, as well as in the Americas. Howrani settled in the U.S. in 1973, and later studied composition with William Albright. As a composer, he has won the Michigan Council for the Arts Award; the Artistic Excellence Award from Wayne County, Michigan; two Khalil Gibran Fine Arts Awards, and a grant from the Hariri Foundation. In 2008 his Concerto for Alto Saxophone, Strings and Percussion premiered in London by the English Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Clark Rundell, with Simon Haram as soloist. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.