Since 2012, Brian Holman has closely collaborated with Lebanese-American tenor Amine Hachem as music director and arranger for his live concerts. More recently they have collaborated in songwriting and recording, and their first original release, “Ghannaki al qalb,” recorded with Ukrainian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Kiev Opera Chorus, was recently nominated for three Murex d’or after several weeks at #1 on the Lebanese YouTube charts.
Since his debut on Lebanese television at 18, Amine Hachem has been singing and entertaining audiences with his Vegas showman’s flair and high voltage passion. Early influences included Mario Lanza, Luciano Pavarotti, Frank Sinatra, Elvis and Sting, Amine gained notoriety in his youth performing in the night clubs of Beirut, singing foreign Western music, and enjoying a lengthy residency at The Library. After musical studies took him to Munich and New York, Amine met Brian through the celebrated tenor Francisco Casanova, and soon they began crafting his shows for American audiences, creating a musical concept of Arabic fusion, forming a band of acclaimed New York session musicians, and appearing regularly at 54 Below. More concerts followed at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, the UN, MGM Grand Detroit, Washington DC, as well as Amine’s guest appearances at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Bellagio Las Vegas, Place des Arts Montreal, and on PBS television, slowly fortifying his audience base on the western side of the Atlantic.
A Christmas Concert in 2018 at the famed Casino du Liban with the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra marked a historical comeback to Lebanon for Amine, having not performed in his home country for several years, and reconnecting with Lebanese audiences that still remembered the hip swinging Elvis impressions of his youth. Despite the immense interest that followed, the Casino’s plan to reengage Amine was hampered by the country’s deepening economic crisis, and ultimately the COVID pandemic. In spite of these political setbacks, regional appearances in Lebanon, Greece and Jordan followed over the next few years that enabled Brian and Amine to begin developing relationships with local artists and producers.
Following their success together with the Abu Dhabi production of the Arabic Opera, Antar w Abla, in 2025, and subsequent postponement of productions due to the Iran war, Amine and Brian have turned their focus onto a new recording project, namely an all-Arabic song album, featuring symphonic orchestra and chorus, and Amine’s trademark fusion of Arabic and European styles.
