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Johnny Hachem

Johnny Hachem: Playing Piano for Peace

It is not unusual for some good things to come from tragedies.

A particular but well-known example is that of Beethoven. He had a miserable, imprisoned childhood, with an alcoholic father who alternated moments of obfuscation with more rare moments of clarity, and who wanted to make his son a musical genius, like Mozart.

A resounding slap punished the slightest stumble of Beethoven’s numb fingers on the piano or viola. The day came when, his father, tired of the boy interpreting the pentagrams at his own pace, guided by the irrepressible impulse of his talent, looked for a teacher to replace him.

After that, things changed for the pianist. He saw in music a place to dream, let go, and be better. In music, he found salvation and inspired many other musicians.

Under his appearance of a rough man, he hid an exquisite sensitivity that seduced the souls of those who listened to him in amazement. And this is what Johnny Hachem has in common with the legendary pianist.

He is seducing the souls of his listeners.

Johnny Hachem is a Lebanese-Ukrainian composer and pianist, who is currently based in Switzerland. Because of Lebanon’s complicated wars and political turmoils, he had a troubled childhood. Coping life’s aspects with war were no easy task.

Nonetheless, whenever the fire ceased, he would play the piano. He grew up surrounded by sounds, music sheets, and chords, so his great interest and passion for music have been major aspects that shaped his life.

He grew up in an artistic home, where his parents were musicians. His father played the violin and his mother played the piano. He used to listen to them very attentively, and would later try to imitate on the piano everything he heard. He developed a superb musical ear that was later polished when he began to study at the conservatory.

He is the holder of many international awards including the 2009 international award for the Music Composition at The International Composition Conference (Cergy-pontoise, France).

Today, with so much technology, possibilities, and ways of doing things, the entertainment industry has grown a lot. But to stand out from the rest, it takes a lot of talent, originality, and above all, perseverance. All of which Johnny has plenty of.

He has performed his compositions as a soloist at several concerts and international festivals in Ukraine, Lebanon, Switzerland, France, Austria, Germany, England, Spain, Poland, Romania, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Belarus, South Korea, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar.

His talent being so vast, he has composed the music for many films, among them stands out “I knocked on the Temple’s Door” by Carmen Labaki. Also, to his name, he has a piano concerto, a violin concerto and a large variety of instrumental and orchestral compositions that have been performed in Europe & the Middle East.

His compositions always give something to talk about. They evoke feelings and experiences. He sees and works classical music in a different way than many have done. The unique form of his compositions has made him stand out, and in addition, they fit harmonically and perfectly to what society needs today, and its many incesant expectations.

This has made his music to be accepted by all types of audiences. It is not the “boring” or commercial music that has been plaguing the market. His music has been broadcasted on different Radio stations in the Middle East, The United Kingdom, Brazil, Central America, and The Caribbean.

Hachem was a professor at the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music,and he has achieved a Masters’s degree in composition with distinction.

As of January of this year, and after his enormous success with “Jacob and Rachel, the love history”, an orchestral composition that won the third international prize of the  Classic Pure Vienna International Composition Competition in 2021, he has presented a new solo piano composition that spread worldwide in a matter of few days, “The Fall of Jericho”.

The composition has been acclaimed by fans in the United States, Europe, and Latin America, all of them asking for the music sheet of such a wonderful piece.

It is worth noting that “Jacob and Rachel”  is based on a biblical passage as well as “Jericho”. It was also inspired by the Bible. This piano piece has been performed, recorded, and filmed last December in the wonderful Philharmonic Hall in Kharkiv.

Johnny used to reside in Ukraine, where his home, composing room and basically, the memories of his whole life are, but because of the war, he had to leave and move to Switzerland and currently resides in Zurich. A man with a life marked by wars in both his homelands.

Places where peace seems to be an asymptote: always nearing it, but never finally occurring. There is no doubt of the great feeling and emotion that his music possesses, having gone through these circumstances.

For this very reason, based on his experience of how traumatic and cruel wars can be, Johnny has been preparing piano concerts for a world tour for peace, and the fundraisings will be donated to families in Ukraine and Lebanon.

Music with a message is always more powerful, and this message is for peace and humanitarianism.