Pack of Cards
Eid is finally here, my dears, and in celebration, the Cairo Opera House -- one of my favourite venues in town -- has put together a fantastic programme of popular ballets: Al-Laila Al- Kebira, Lorkiana and Hassan Wa Na'ima will be showing at the Main Hall from 6-10 December.
The classic Al-Laila Al- Kebira, written by Salah Jahin and composed by Sayed Mekawi, is back after a smashingly successful run last year. The ballet features the Cairo Opera Ballet Company and Orchestra, with dances choreographed by Lamia Mohamed and Magdi Saber. Lorkiana's composer is Edward Marx; it's one of the few ballets with a soprano part. Hassan Wa Na'ima, meanwhile, the oh so famous love story from Egyptian folklore, is composed by Gamal Abdel-Rahim. In all three ballets, the orchestra will be conducted by Ivan Filev and artistically supervised by director Abdel-Moneim Kamel.
The Opera House, as always, is brimming with news: I've just discovered that the Italian Venezia Guilia Orchestra will be in concert at the Main Hall, on 11 December, performing a selection of works by renowned Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, one of the leading musicians of the 18th century. The orchestra was founded in 2000 and has performed a series of concerts promoting the art and music of Italy's Friuli region ever since its first show at the Musik Verrein Hall in Vienna.
The Layali Al-Mahrousa (Egyptian Evenings) artistic festival organised by the Organisation of Cultural Palaces (OCP) every night during Ramadan at the Sayeda Zeinab cultural garden, rounded out its activities last week, with a couple of interesting seminars about two of the most talked-about shows on TV this year. Mohamed Sobhi's Faris Bela Gawwad (Horseman Without a Horse) was one of them, and the lively discussion that took place focused on the controversy over accusations that the show was anti- Semitic because of its treatment of The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. On Saturday, a seminar about the historical soap opera Qasim Amin, featured the show's scriptwriter Mohamed El-Sayed Eid, director En'am Mohamed Ali, and actor Kamal Abu Raiya who plays the role of Qasim Amin, the man who advocated the emancipation and education of Egyptian women a whole century ago.
I've just returned, my sweets, from a reception at the Marriott hotel's Eugenie ballroom celebrating the 90th anniversary of Albania's Independence Day. Newly named Albanian Ambassador in Egypt Viktor Kalemi expressed his pride in the strong ties between Albania and Egypt, promising to do his best to expand and reinforce them. Albania was the last country to declare its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912.
My good friend Ahmed Shafiq, the minister of civil aviation, was honoured recently by the Arab Media Association, which is headed by veteran journalist Said Sonbol. Sonbol presented Shafiq with the association's shield during a ceremony at the environmentally friendly tent at the Cairo Opera House. Awatef Serageddin, who heads the Hayati (My life) humanitarian association and Garden City Lions Club, was also honoured for her social and humanitarian efforts in the community. Journalist Samir Abdel- Qader presented Serageddin with her award. Amongst the luminaries who attended the party were former prime minister Ali Lutfi and caricaturist Mustafa Hussein. Last year's awards were given to Al- Ahram Editor-in- Chief and Chairman of the Board Ibrahim Nafie as well as Misr University's Chairman of the Board Nawal El- Degwie, who also runs the Dar Al- Tarbiya school. Consummate radio announcer Amal Fahmi was the evening's host.
I am extremely anxious to attend the 2nd Model US Congress organised by Cairo University's Faculty of Economics and Political Science, and set to take place in March 2003. The event will afford students the opportunity to find out more about the decision-making process in the US, as they become senators for three days. The only other similar simulation of the US Congress takes place at Harvard university, I am told.
Hundreds of students have applied to become senators, but only 100-150 will be chosen. These lucky ones will undergo a three-month training programme to prepare for the actual conference, during which students will simulate events going on in the US Senate, debating topics that today's Congress grapples with on a daily basis. Four congressional committees will be represented in the model: foreign relations, finance, armed services, and the sub- committee on Middle Eastern affairs. The entire exercise will be in English -- other than debates in the Mideast subcommittee, which will be in Arabic.
