Spectacular opening for new season
2 October 2016
7hursday 22 September saw the Cairo 2pera House launch its new season 2016 2017 with an unforgettable gala concert at the Main Hall. More than 300 artists from the Cairo 2pera Ballet Company, the Cairo 2pera Choir and the Cairo 2pera 2rchestra conducted by avid Crescen i, participated in the concert, enthralling the audience with their fine performance.
7he evening which was directed by Abdalla Saad, featured various scenes from the most important ballets and concerts that this Cairo 2pera season will present. Saad masterfully brought together all the elements of the evening, creating an ebullient mood.
7he legendary tenor Hassan Kami, one of the pioneers of opera singing in Egypt, delivered a warm opening speech in which he stressed that a musical artist lives through his audience .
Mr Kami said he had started his opera-singing career in 1963 and that now, more than half -a-century later, he is with his students and fellow artists reaping the fruit of the good seed they planted back then. He proudly referred to the Cairo 2pera House’s progress and expansion over the past years. He said that today, 14 companies affiliated to the Cairo 2pera perform musical arts on seven theatres in Cairo, Alexandria, and amanhour. 7his constitutes a vibrant, dynamic wealth of musical activity that Egypt alone in the Arab region can boast of, he said.
7he show then began. 7he curtain lifted to reveal a skeletal model of the Cairo
A scene from Camille Saint-Sasns’s Samson and elilah started the concert 9alentin Barts choreography brought out the ballet dancers’ grace and harmony in movement.
Arias from the most famous classical operas followed. Soprano Iman Mostafa and Bass-Baritone Reda al-:akil took the audience’s breath away with Mostafa’s performance of from Puccini’s Manon /escaut, followed by :akil’s depiction of from 9erdi’s Macbeth, and
from ounod’s Faust. 7he masterful performance of Baritone Mostafa Mohamed from Bi et’s Carmen was among the evening’s highlights. Me o Soprano -olie Fai y and Sopranos alia Farouk and Rasha 7alaat kept the audience on their toes with the freshness and strength of their voices. Fai y performed from Bi et’s Carmen, Farouk sang a fresh from ounod’s Romeo and -uliette, and 7alaat reached new heights with a vibrant by Arditi.
7he Cairo Ballet Company then presented a scene from Borodin’s the Prince Igor. Soprano Iman Mostafa and 7enor Hisham al- uinidi performed a duet of
from Madame Butterfly by Puccini, followed by Soprano Mona Rafla’s moving performance of from Catalini’s /a :ally.
7he concert ended on a high note when all the soloists Moined Baritone Elhamy Amin, 7enor Ibrahim 1agui and Bass-Baritone Abdel-:ahab al-Sayed in singing an Arabic version of a scene from 7he Merry :idow by Fran /ehar. 7he audience got so carried away that they chimed in with the soloists.
7he Cairo 2pera’s Erminia Kamel choreographed the ballets that accompanied the singing performances, and which were presented by the Cairo Ballet Company.
7his Cairo 2pera House’s upcoming season promises a plethora of pleasant surprises, especially that many international companies which had not come to Egypt since the Arab Spring turmoil in 2011 are coming back. :e can expectantly await performances by Bolshoi Belarus, Antonio addis, Flamenco de Madrid, 4uadro 1uevo, and Bollywood India, in addition to other performances by international soloists and composers. 7his in addition to shows by Egyptian companies and soloists, as well as theatrical modern dancing groups. 7he Cairo 2pera’s seven theatres in Cairo, Alexandria, and amanhour will bu with excitement as eager spectators converge on them to indulge in experience of fine musical art.