CHAKER, Layale

Layale Chaker (b. 1990) is a Lebanese violinist and composer whose work brings together contemporary classical music, jazz, Arabic musical traditions and improvisation. Raised in Lebanon, she began her musical training at the National Higher Conservatory of Beirut and later continued her studies at the Conservatoire de Paris and the Royal Academy of Music in London. Her music is shaped by both Western classical practice and the modal, rhythmic and poetic traditions of the Arab world.
As a performer and composer, Chaker has collaborated with artists and ensembles including Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Ziad Rahbani, Holland Baroque and the New World Symphony. She has appeared at venues and festivals such as the Berlin Philharmonie, Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall, Lucerne Festival and the London Jazz Festival.
Her debut album, Inner Rhyme (2019), draws on the twelve classical Arabic poetic meters and explores relationships between language, rhythm and instrumental gesture. Her later projects include Vigil, written for the string quartet ETHEL, the chamber opera Ruinous Gods, and Dawning, a double concerto for violin, clarinet and orchestra. In 2024, Ruinous Gods, created with librettist Lisa Schlesinger, received its world premiere at the Spoleto Festival USA. Layale Chaker
Chaker has received numerous awards and fellowships, including a Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, an Opera America Discovery Grant, the Diaphonique Franco-British Commission Prize and support from the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture. Her work occupies a distinctive place in contemporary music by connecting Arab cultural memory with present-day composition and improvisation.