Layale Chaker

Layale Chaker (; born 1990) is a French-Lebanese violinist and composer whose music integrates elements of classical, contemporary, jazz, Arabic music and improvisation.

Music career She was born in Paris and moved to Lebanon at the age of 6. In 2005, Chaker began her musical studies at the National Higher Conservatory of Beirut. She later studied at the Conservatoire Régional de Paris beginning in 2010 and the Royal Academy of Music in London starting in 2017 with professors including Mohamed Hashem, Carmen Scripcariu, Jeanne-Marie Conquer and Nicholas Miller. She currently performs with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim.

Chaker has performed at a variety of festivals and concert halls. Festival highlights include La Biennale di Venezia, Spoleto Festival, London Jazz Festival, Alderburgh Festival, Morgenland Festival Osnabrueck, Junger Kunstler Festival Bayreuth, Lucerne Festival for Contemporary Music, Impuls’ Festival, Beethoven Festival Bonn and Avignon Festival. She has performed at concert halls such as Berlin Philharmonie, Abbaye de Royaumont, Hancher Auditorium, Stone, National Sawdust, Banff Centre, Royal Albert Hall and Wigmore Hall. Her album Radio Afloat, with Sarafand Ruinous Gods, Seven Suites for Sleeping Children (2024) In the Presence of Absence: In Memoriam Edward Said (2022) Anatomy of Titus: Fall of Rome (2022) Before Bloom (2021) Bond of the Beloved (2020) Ghalia's Miles (2019) Mouhawala Oula (2019) Sinekeman (2019) Two Coasts: Past and Recent Streams (2019) The Brown Texts (2018) Confused Cherry Tree (2018) Hints on Memory, poem for violin and string orchestra (2017) Tied to your name by Water (2017)

Awards and recognition

2026: United States Artists Fellowship 2022: Opera America Discovery Award 2020-2022: Jerome Hill Fellowship 2021: Dumbarton Oaks Composition Residency 2020: Inaugural Silkroad Seeds Award