Elia Koussa, born in Lebanon in 1979, studied the piano at the Lebanese conservatory and later started his composition studies with Helmut Zapf in Berlin. In 2002 he enrolled at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar where he studied with Reinhard Wolschina, then between 2006 and 2008 continued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in Leipzig, with Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf.
He received many prizes, among which the composition prize of the “Weimarer Fruehjahrstage” chamber music competition in 2009, and the Baerenreiter prize for his piece “Waves”, played by the Aeolian Trio. He is founder of the Contemporary Music Department at the Lebanese conservatory, and he teaches there, at Notre-Dame University Lebanon and at Antonine University.
ELIA KOUSSA 