Hail the heralds
Amal Choucri Catta is in festive mood
Christmas Gala Concert, Cairo Opera Company and Orchestra with Christmas Choir, conductor Nayer Nagui. Main Hall, Cairo Opera House, 17 and 19 December, 8pm
They came in large numbers, mirthful, blithesome melodies, their glorious trumpets proclaiming gladness and peace and halcyon days: heralds of love, their music soared throughout the halls. From "the child is born" to "minuit chrétiens", listeners were taken around the planet.
Sobhi Bedeir was the star of the show at last week's Christmas Gala Concerts in Cairo Opera's Main Hall, together with French soprano Caroline Dumas. He closed two triumphant performances integrating traditional carols with modern arrangements and classical arias. Conducted by Nayer Nagui, Cairo Opera Orchestra and soloists and a Christmas choir of over 150 singers took audiences on an enchanting vocal and instrumental trip, presenting songs from France, the US, England, Germany, Austria and Italy.
Preluding with an instrumental medley of seasonal melodies, the programme started with three songs from HŠndel's Messiah, joyfully introduced by the choir and followed, rather dully, by baritone Ramez Lebad. Though blessed with a good voice, Lebad seems to be stagnating. His interpretations generally lack colour and expression. Audiences quickly forgot him, however, with the arrival of soprano Nevine Allouba walking briskly onto the stage. A vivacious, cheerful lady, she gave us a delightful version of Messiah's "Rejoice", bringing to a sprightly close HŠndel's visions of heavenly Zion and New Jerusalem.
On each of the two nights 20 different soloists graced the Main Stage, presenting a single song before rushing into the wings, while audiences patiently waited the next performer. With 20 different compositions scheduled the programme was inevitably going to be long and highlights rare. Yet it attracted a full house, lending a festive atmosphere to each performance.
Mezzo-soprano Hala El-Shabouri came on with "God rest ye merry gentlemen", a well known, charming English song, followed by soprano Jacqueline Rafik singing Austrian Franz Gruber's "Silent Night", a song Christmas couldn't do without. It was presented in English by the soloist and choir.
Though literally lost without a microphone, Rafik has a lovely crooner's voice and uses it expertly. "Angels we have heard on high" is a French song, and was presented by baritone Mustafa Mohamed in a duet with soprano Isabella Fayed: he is a brilliant performer, which cannot be said of her. A young singer on her way up, she must work harder on her performances. We had eight sopranos over the two nights and the results were uneven.
Bass baritone Reda El-Wakil's "Jesu bambino" was one of the few highlights. A hard worker, El-Wakil takes his vocal career seriously and has never disappointed his audiences. He preceded another celebrated Egyptian name, soprano Iman Mustafa, singing Alessandro Stradella's "Pieta Signore". It was followed by John Wade's "Adeste Fideles", enchantingly sung by tenor Tamer Tewfik, one of the rare singers constantly progressing, his voice gaining in strength and colour and his performance in expression. Soprano Mona Rafla closed the first part of the programme. Lively, buoyant, her long, embroidered gown reminiscent of a springtime butterfly, she sang the song of "The Glow-worm", asking it to "glimmer", while being jovially joined by the choir. Rafla spells good humour and merriment: her pure timbre, her ease and her smiling presence have always fascinated her audiences.
A traditional French song opened the second part of the concert, with the children's choir joining the main chorus and "Petit Papa Noel" beautifully resounding through the Main Hall. While the children marched off to warm applause, soprano Amira Selim came on, magnificently presenting Kirkpatrick's "Away in a Manger". Hers was another of the few highlights. Baritone Elhamy Amin followed with "What child is this", while mezzo-soprano Jala El-Hadidi sang the "O Tannenbaum", in German, of course. HŠndel's "Joy to the world the Lord has come, let earth receive her king" reechoed from the stage, while mezzo-sopranos Hanan El-Guindy and Jolie Faizy respectively presented Caccini's "Ave Maria", followed by Bizet's "Agnus Dei" beautifully sung by tenor Walid Korayem.
No one understood why soprano Dalia Farouk was among the three last singers. She presented Mozart's "Alleluia" in a colourless voice, screaming her high notes into the microphone. Generally a good performer with a captivating voice, Farouk was disappointing. Tenor Sobhi Bedeir's "White Christmas" and soprano Caroline Dumas' "Minuit chrétiens", accompanied by the choir, closed the concerts marvelously. These were, likewise, two of the rare highlights.
Cairo Symphony Orchestra, conductor Sergio Cardenas, with the A Capella Choir and soloists Dalia Farouk, Sobhi Bedeir, Mustafa Mohamed and narrator Raouf Messiha. Main Hall Cairo Opera House, 20 December 8pm
Christmas is flourishing at Cairo's Opera House with evergreen trees sparkling with coloured lights at the main entrance and "Merry Christmas, Happy New Year" appearing in bold letters above the main door. Following Wednesday's and Friday's Christmas Gala Concerts, Saturday boasted two performances: at the Small Hall, violinist Sami Ibrahim and his Blue Nile Ensemble while, at the same time, in the Main Hall, Cairo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sergio Cardenas, gave the audience a superb version of Carmina Burana.
It was the second Burana this year. The first took place on 29 March, in the framework of the 20th Century Music Festival, with Sergio Cardenas as guest conductor and soloists Taheya Shams El-Din, soprano, Hisham El-Guindy, tenor and Andrea Martin, baritone, and the A Capella Choir directed by Maya Gvinneria. Then there was a full house, which was not the case on Saturday.
Carl Orff's scenic cantata for choir, soloists and orchestras will always attract a respectable audience. Like Beethoven's "Ninth", Verdi's "Requiem", Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" or Verdi's "Aida", it is one of those rare pieces that will run and run. This time Sergio Cardenas was again at the head of the orchestra, not as guest conductor but as musical director and principal conductor of Cairo Symphony Orchestra. And once more his performance was remarkable. He has his own rhythmic conception: his pace is dynamic and he seems to dislike loitering vocalists or slow instrumentalists. Soloists had been changed for Saturday's performance, presenting soprano Dalia Farouk, tenor Sobhi Bedeir and baritone Mustafa Mohamed.
That night the concert started with two premieres: Khaled Shukri's Impressions from the Third World, and Manuel Enrique's Spring of the Suns, for soprano, narrator and orchestra. Shukri graduated from the Cairo Conservatoire Composition Department in 1987 and has subsequently won a number of national and international prizes, among them the National Award for Creativity and a two-year scholarship at the Egyptian Academy in Rome.
Mexican composer Manuel Enrique was a member of the group Nueva Musica, founded in 1957 by Jouaquin Gutierrez-Heraz. Enrique's Spring of Suns is an ambiguous, rather sombre work, plunging the listener into the enigmatic world of outer space, of unknown universes, of the birth and death of multitudes of suns and planets. There is a strange dialogue between the soprano and the narrator, evoking images of darkness and overwhelming feelings. Melody comes in rapid, discontinued sequences, while the soprano, brilliantly performed by Dalia Farouk, goes through all kinds of vocal acrobatics required by the composer. Spring of Suns relies particularly on sound effects and percussion: an interesting, if by now curiously dated, composition well-managed by the orchestra, the soloists, the choir and the maestro.
The latter did an excellent job conducting both this and Shukri's Impressions of the Third World. Both compositions, however, were received lukewarmly by the audience, all waiting for Burana. Excellently performed and beautifully sung by choir and soloists, it received a seemingly endless standing ovation.
