Habib Azar (born October 19, 1979 in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

, United States) is an American film, theater and television director based in New York City. He married his wife, Carla Azar, in 2011, and they have two children.

Career

Six-time Emmy winner Habib Azar's directing work spans contemporary opera, film and TV. Azar specializes in directing and producing multi-camera live performing arts events for broadcast. Trained as a composer, he combines musical knowledge, narrative storytelling and the technical capacity to manage live broadcasts. He has directed nearly 500 hours of network television. Azar has filmed ensembles and performers including Lang Lang, Yo-Yo Ma, Renee Fleming, Itzhak Perlman, Wynton Marsalis, the New York Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra''.'' Azar is also a producer and director for ''The All-Star Orchestra'' on PBS.

Film

Azar directed the 2018 cinemacast of Marnie for the Metropolitan Opera's Live in HD series. Azar directed the ''

Live From Lincoln Center ''Live from Lincoln Center'' is a seventeen-time Emmy Award-winning series that has broadcast notable performances from the Lincoln Center in New York City on PBS since 1976. The program airs between six and nine times per season. Episodes of '' ...

'' film production of ''Pipeline,'' a play by Dominque Morisseau, during its 2017 Off-Broadway run at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. He is the director of the New York Philharmonic’s facebook live series. His first feature film ''Armless'' for which he both directed and wrote the score was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and went on to win awards at festivals around the world. ''Armless'' is an off-kilter comedy about a man who suffers from body integrity identity disorder. His second feature film ''Saint Janet'' stars Kelly Bishop and was released by Indie Rights.

Stage

Azar's stage work focuses on world premiere and rarely performed contemporary operas. He directed the world premiere of a chamber ensemble version of Du Yun’s ''Angel’s Bone'' with the International Contemporary Ensemble at the Mann Center which won the Pulitzer Prize in music in 2017. He directed the American stage premiere of Georg Friedrich Haas' ''ATTHIS'' in a well-received production that had the heroine bound in duct tape. In the climactic scene she stripped naked by violently ripping the duct tape from her body in what the New York Times said 'must be one of the most searingly painful and revealing operatic performances of recent times.' His other productions include the world premiere of

Lewis Nielson Lewis Nielson (born 1950) is an American composer. Until 2012, he served as chair of the composition department at Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Early life and education Nielson spent his childhood in Washington, D.C., but moved with his famil ...

's ''USW'' with Opera Cabal of Chicago and the 2007 production of

Luigi Nono Luigi Nono (; 29 January 1924 – 8 May 1990) was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music. Biography Early years Nono, born in Venice, was a member of a wealthy artistic family; his grandfather was a notable painter. Nono b ...

's rarely performed ''A Floresta e Jovem e Cheja de Vida'' with the

International Contemporary Ensemble The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is a contemporary classical music ensemble, based in New York City and Chicago. ICE performs a diverse and extensive array of chamber, electro-acoustic, improvisatory, and multimedia works. History T ...

toured the US and Mexico and was the subject of an extended analysis in '' The Drama Review''. Azar has directed numerous plays including ''Gorilla Man'' at PS122.

Television

In 2013 Azar directed all 8 episodes of the groundbreaking series '' The All Star Orchestra'' for PBS. The program gathered principal musicians from major American orchestras to film concert works especially for television. Other live multi-camera arts specials directed by Azar include

Yo-Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma ('' Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...

for ''

Live from Lincoln Center ''Live from Lincoln Center'' is a seventeen-time Emmy Award-winning series that has broadcast notable performances from the Lincoln Center in New York City on PBS since 1976. The program airs between six and nine times per season. Episodes of '' ...

'', The

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary class ...

Lang Lang Lang Lang (; born 14 June 1982) is a Chinese pianist who has performed with leading orchestras in China, North America, Europe, and elsewhere. Active since the 1990s, he was the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berlin Philharmonic, ...

, Mariinsky Orchestra,

Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

Dance Company, the

National Symphony Orchestra The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1930, its principal performing venue is the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. It also performs for the annual National Me ...

NHK Symphony Orchestra The is a Japanese broadcast orchestra based in Tokyo. The orchestra gives concerts in several venues, including the NHK Hall, Suntory Hall, and the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. History The orchestra began as the ''New Symphony Orchestra'' ...

, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Azar has worked extensively in soap operas, having directed multiple episodes of ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...

'', ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City ...

'', ''

All My Children ''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 2013, via Hulu, Hulu Plus, and ...

'', and '' One Life to Live''. He has won 6 Emmy Awards for his work in TV.

Awards and nominations

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

*Win, 2007, Directing, ''As the World Turns'' *Nominated, 2012, Directing, ''The Young and the Restless'' *Win, 2014, Directing, ''One Life to Live'' New York Emmy Award *Win, 2014, Directing, ''The All Star Orchestra'' *Win, 2015, Directing, ''The All Star Orchestra'' *Win, 2017, Directing, ''The All Star Orchestra'' *Win, 2019, Directing, ''US Marine Band with The All Star Orchestra''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Azar, Habib American television directors 1979 births American people of Lebanese descent Living people Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts alumni