In progress
A faithful tenor
Hassan Kami, first tenor of Cairo's old and new opera houses, has performed title roles in the most distinguished venues worldwide, giving over 1,600 performances, including Aida, La Traviata and Otello in Egypt. A television, film and stage actor as well, he was appointed artistic director of the Cairo Opera House in 1991, assuming the position of the Opera's artistic counsellor in 2000.
Let me, first, explain the difference between artistic director and artistic counsellor. The work of the former consists of drawing up a programme for the National Cultural Centre, or Cairo Opera House. According to that programme, the different groups and ensembles perform on the centre's various stages for one cultural season.
We have around 13 well-formed ensembles: a lyric group, a ballet company, a symphonic orchestra, a choir for Arabic music, an orchestra for Arabic music and more. There are proportions that we have to keep in mind to present these ensembles most advantageously, differentiating between local and foreign audiences. The formula on which the programme is based is then discussed at our policy council. Each ensemble is asked to put on a new show for the season, as well as a number of performances from its repertoire.
More recently, the position of artistic director was eliminated; now each group has its own artistic director. Selim Sehab, for instance, is artistic director of the Arabic Music Ensemble, while Salah Ghobashi directs the traditional Arabic music orchestra; and Dr Ratiba El-Hefny offers her guidance to both as counsellor.
My role as artistic counsellor, on the other hand, relates to all non- Arab activities, my priority being international performances. I concentrate on concepts; for instance: do we want the Cairo Opera to be extremely exclusive, frequented solely by the elite, connoisseurs and music lovers, or do we want to break this psychological barrier and open the opera up to the masses? Opening up is the policy Dr Samir Farag has adopted for the last two years. We don't want people to fear the opera house, but to come and enjoy the shows; we therefore present programmes which may be more to their liking, drawing them in with operas and concerts as well as ballets that might be more acceptable. On the other hand, after 11 September we found ourselves involuntarily in a cocoon of nationalism, a kind of web of Arabism, and we therefore had to move within the framework of a more national orientation.
Each member of the council makes his opinion clear before we make a collective decision which is finally applied. In the case of an unsuccessful programme or a controversial show, as was the case with The Magic Flute, we discuss the situation with whoever is in charge of the relevant department, in this case Sobhi Bedeir, trying to work out the reason behind the difficulties in order to avoid them in the future. If you think we concentrate on Arabic music concerts because they are more lucrative, think again. They are actually less successful than they used to be, being a little repetitive. I must admit that producing shows of international standards is impossible at the moment, due to political and economic obstacles. Budgets are climbing, subsidies are hard to come by, even government support hasn't made up with inflation. If we ask for sponsorship from any interested party, our petition falls on deaf ears. For instance, we spent an enormous amount on The Magic Flute: the result was not bad, but neither was it perfect. There were a few obstacles we managed to overcome though we did leave sets and costumes to specialists from Germany. The best would have been too expensive, moreover, and so often we are forced to choose between not doing something or accepting a compromise.
Another example is The Masked Ball we are planning for the end of the season: it is a remake, the sets and costumes of which are worn out; new ones would be very expensive, so we are trying to do the best we can. The same goes for the ballet and Arabic music departments, which are in dire need of new costumes. With the recent war going on and the turbulent situation, many foreign companies are cancelling their performances, which leaves a large vacuum. People are in a bad mood, which is understandable. But we must wait until the situation has improved, and in the meantime, we shall have to rely on local productions, especially Arabic music performances.
I am no longer a member of the opera's lyrical ensemble. With some 1600 performances in 44 years on the world's most important stages, and an impressive discography to my name, I feel I can afford to refuse any kind of auditioning, though I did accept the one for the last scene of Verdi's Otello, which represents a difficult summit in Italian opera. But six minutes of Otello did not seem sufficient to the person in charge, who asked for Faust, which is the repertoire of a beginner -- something I had done some 30 years before.
Disliking the whole concept of an audition, I decided to retire in response. Following the intervention of Dr Samir Farag, I agreed to try again, choosing a beautiful page from Ul Trovatore. Again I was asked for Faust or Celeste Aida. I had sung Aida 440 times in my life and everybody heard me, so I refused to give in to this kind of humiliation. I still practise daily, preserving my voice for when someone more reasonable is in charge. I have had my share of glory and now I am at the service of the Egyptian opera house, and whenever able to introduce something new, you can rest assured that I shall not fail to do so. I have served opera all my life, even on the Arabic stage and in Arabic films. And in that I shall persevere, because that is what I believe in.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 24 - 30 April 2003 (Issue No. 635)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/635/cu2.htm