Classical Pianist | Performer

Chantal Francis Menassa began playing piano at the age of six, studying with Mrs. Mimi Hajjar at the Music Faculty of the Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik (USEK).

From a young age, she was active in artistic events, performing at the age of ten in concerts, including a performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London for Lebanese children.

At nineteen, she earned a piano diploma from the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music under Dr. Walid Moussallem, graduating with an excellent grade and special distinction.

She later continued to refine her pianistic skills through studies with internationally renowned pianists such as Elizabeth Sombart, Igor Khudolei, Stéphane Emyan, and Alessandro Drago.

She served as Director of Fondation Résonnance – Lebanon, through which she organized classical music concerts in concert halls as well as in hospitals and prisons, promoting music as a form of outreach and cultural engagement.

She is a prizewinner of several competitions, including first prize at the Margo Babikian Competition, second prize at the Mozart Competition in Beirut, and second prize at the Conservatoire de Boulogne-Billancourt in France. As a soloist, she performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Damascus Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Youth Orchestra.

She has appeared in concerts across Beirut, Paris, Switzerland, and Rome as both a soloist and chamber musician.

The niece of the legendary Lebanese singer Wadih El Safi, she collaborated with composer Wajdi Abou Diab on arrangements of El Safi’s melodies, resulting in her debut album “Wadih El Safi, the Composer”, premiered in September 2023 at Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre Church in Paris and at the AUB Assembly Hall in Beirut.