MUSIC

The Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart presents An Opus XIX Pipe Organ Recital with Dr. Naji Hakim, Friday, October 14, 2011 at 8:00 PM. Dr. Hakim has been a major force in French organ music, as organist at the Sacre-Coeur in Montmartre adn La Trinite in Paris.

Naji Hakim had an early interest in music as a boy in elementary school in Beirut and took piano lessons from his mother while still living in Beirut. He also studied organ on his own at home using the works and methods of Marcel Dupré, and others. Although he wanted to be a musician, he respected his father's advice and began his college career as an engineer. Because of the war in Beirut at that time, he moved with his family to Paris in 1975 and finished his engineering studies at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, graduating in 1979. He also began studying with organist Jean Langlais. It was because of Langlais' encouragement that Hakim entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, graduating from here around 1987.

Hakim was the organist of the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, Paris from 1985 until 1993. At that time, he succeeded Olivier Messiaen as organist at The Église de la Sainte-TriNaji Hakimnité, a post he kept 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. In 2007, His Holiness the Pope Benediktus XVI awarded Naji Hakim The insignia Augustae crucis insigne pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, for his excellent commitment and work for the benefit of the Church and the Holy Father.

Hakim is a superb organist as well as a composer as well as an improviser.