Art Alert: Pianist Ramzi Yassa to perform with BA Chamber Orchestra, Alexandria

Internationally renowned Egyptian pianist will perform in Alexandria on Sunday 19 October

On Sunday 19 October, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Chamber Orchestra (BACO) conducted by Hisham Gabr will perform works by the profilic composers of the Classical music period: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714 – 1788), Haydn (1732 - 1809) and Mozart (1756 - 1791).
The evening will open with the symphony no. 3 in F Major Op. 665 by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, a German composer, whose 300th birthday is celebrated across the world, particularly in German cities where the composer spent most of his life.
Following Bach, the audience will be treated to Joseph Haydn piano concerto no. 11 in D Major featuring internationally renowned Egyptian pianist Ramzi Yassa.
Among the Cairo Conservatory's first graduates following its inauguration in the 1950s, Ramzi Yassa is one of the most remarkable musicians of his generation. He pursued his formal education at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and received an honorary certificate at the 1974 Tchaikovsky competition. Though he relocated to Paris in the 1970s, where he teaches at Ecole Normale, Yassa continues to return to Egypt periodically for performances with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra or solo recitals. Internationallyhe is a jury member of numerous international piano competitions and gives courses in various locations around the globe.
The second half of the evening will include Mozart's well-known symphony no. 40 in G minor. Completed in July 1788, the symphony no. 40 was composed during Mozart's most successful period where he also worked on symphonies no. 39 and 41. The 40th symphony is one of the staples of international concert halls, and until today is admired by audiences of all generations.
The BACO was founded in 2002, with the beginning of the Bibliotheca Alexandria Arts Center's activities. Consisting of 16 Egyptian string players, the orchestra performs music that varies from classical music and works by Egyptian composers to light music. In its history, the orchestra has been conducted by many Egyptians and has collaborated with many internationally acclaimed soloists. The most recent orchestra conducted by Nayer Naguib represented Egypt in the International Festival of Classical Music that took place in the Algerian capital of Algiers between 12 and 19 September.
In their upcoming concert, the BACO will be conducted by Hisham Gabr who is also the newly appointed director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Arts Centre. A contracted conductor at the Cairo Opera House, Gabr is regularly working with the Cairo Symphony and the Cairo Opera orchestras. His international commitments include concerts with state orchestras in Poland, Mexico, Lebanon, Kazakhstan, Oman, among others.
Programme:
Sunday 19 October, 8pm
Bibliotheca Alexandrina Great Hall, Chatby, Alexandria
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/112649.aspx