Amal Choucri Catta takes stock of the most noteworthy concerts of the last three weeks Cairo Symphony Orchestra: three concerts with conductors Marc Kissoczy, Jan Stulen and Alain Paris, Cairo Opera House Main Hall, 26 May, 3 June and 9 June, 9pm Cairo's concerts have never stopped drawing in new audiences, both local and foreign, most of whom have turned into regular Saturday evening guests at the opera's main hall. In the last three weeks alone, we applauded four outstanding soloists and three different guest conductors brought into the folds of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra. Among the most interesting and beautiful concerts, the 26 May one, with the young violinist Chouchane Siranoussian, deserves special mention. She is 23 and she made her musical debut at four. At 15 she was already a soloist and has since played most of the major violin concerts with the Yerevan Philharmonic in Paris. In 2003 Chouchane Siranoussian was granted admission to the exclusive "Cercle des jeunes solistes de France". This time, at Cairo's Main Hall, she conquered her audience with a masterful performance of Johannes Brahms' violin concerto in D Major, Opus 77. It is one of the most challenging works in the violin repertoire: with the Beethoven and the Mendelssohn E-minor, they are rating as the top three greatest violin concertos ever written to this very day. Brahms' masterpiece combines his talent as a symphonist and song writer. He worked closely with his friend Joseph Joachim on the concerto's composition, and conducted its first public performance. It was so fraught with difficulties that it took some time for violinists to take it up. Now it is central to the repertoire; and Chouchane Siranoussian gave us a brilliant performance. The second part of that night's concert was dedicated to Gustav Mahler's First Symphony in D-major, "The Titan", with Marc Kissoczy on the podium. Mahler described this four-movement work as "the sound of nature", and it is full of the Austrian countryside, though it seems that by "nature" he did not mean "birds and flowers", but rather the mystery of sound. However, the last two movements are of a troubled and rather gloomy ambiance, reminiscent of Jean-Paul Richter's titanic, passionate hero, given to eccentricity and finally to suicide. Yet, Mahler's symphony does not end in despair but in radiant glory. That night, maestro and orchestra were as radiant as music. The second concert worth mentioning took place on 2 June in Cairo and the next day in Alexandria, with first lady flautist Inas Abdel-Dayem as soloist and Dutch conductor Jan Stulen at the head of the orchestra. Born in 1942 in Amsterdam, Stulen is no newcomer to Egypt, where he was applauded several times at the Main Hall. The concert opened once again with Johannes Brahms, though this time with his "Academic Festival Overture", Opus 80, in which his generally rather melancholic muse is blown away in an extrovert treatment of popular student tunes -- most of them about beer-drinking, climaxing with a triumphant setting of "Gaudeamus igitur", the famous song. Inas Abdel-Dayem is a renowned lady, an extraordinary virtuoso filled with a passion for perfection and innovation. She has given innumerable concerts and recitals in Egypt and abroad and was awarded many prizes and distinctions. That night, she performed two different works: the "Fantaisie Pastorale Hongroise" by the Austro-Hungarian Albert Franz Doppler and the "Czardas for flute and orchestra" by the Italian Vittorio Monti, giving her audience a ravishing version of Hungarian themes and Czardas dances with a wild, gypsy flavour, her slow, introductory "Lassu", followed by an excited main section in "duple time". The thrilled audience kept asking for more. The second part of the concert left Hungary for the northern hemisphere, to the Finnish colours of Jan Sibelius and his Second Symphony in D-major, Opus 43. Dubbed "the voice of the North", Jan Sibelius' sound unmistakably evokes the landscape and colours of his homeland. He was born on 8 December 1865 and that same year a certain Frederik Idestam established a wood pulp mill on the banks of the Nokia River. Together with the Finnish Rubber Works and the Finnish Cable Works, it became the "Nokia Corporation", today the world's biggest mobile phone manufacturer. But Sibelius was not preoccupied by technology: he was a supreme symphonist evolving from a distinctive late romanticism towards an austere, though colourful classicism that often baffled audiences. He stunned them with "Kullervo" from the Finnish epic "Kalevala", as well as the "Lemminkainen Suite" and his famous "Finlandia". His second symphony grows from a somewhat pastoral Allegretto, through a rather sombre second movement, to a vivacious Scherzo and a heroic Finale. The audience relished Sibelius' music. The third and most recent concert of 9 June gave us two excellent soloists, cellist Aiman El-Hanbouly and soprano Mona Rafla, with the A Cappella Choir directed by Maya Gvinneria and the Cairo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alain Paris from France, who has been cheered in Egypt several times. He is considered a specialist in the French orchestral repertoire and has conducted over sixty orchestras in around 20 countries. The concert opened on a sweet note with "Jeux d'enfants -- petite suite d'orchestre" by Georges Bizet, who is also the author of "Carmen", "La jolie fille de Perth" and "L'Arlesienne", as well as of some lovely incidental music. Robert Schumann's concerto for cello and orchestra in A-minor, Opus 129, with the Egyptian virtuoso Aiman El-Hanbouly, was next in line. A fresh, romantic work, harmoniously interweaving soloist and orchestra, splendidly performed by the cellist who has always been much appreciated, and this time brought a rewarding limpidity and lucidity of thought and texture to Schumann's music. The second part of the concert gave us "Gloria" for soprano solo, choir and orchestra, by Francis Poulenc, with Mona Rafla as the gorgeous soloist. An enchanting member of the Cairo Opera's lyric company, Rafla was admired two weeks ago as Valencienne in "The Merry Widow", though she would have made a ravishing widow herself. Tall and slender in her beautiful white gown, she glided to the front of the stage, and when she sang, her voice was loud and clear, filled with emotion and vitality. Poulenc's "Gloria" in six movements, is taken from the Latin Mass, with a joyous "Laudamus" and a rather merry "Domine Fili" -- a sensitive, melodious work, beautifully performed by choir, orchestra and soloist. After the last "Amen", Rafla was called back on stage several times, while the Maestro was smiling happily and the public cheered. The choice of Mona Rafla as soloist has always been successful: she is one of the rare performers who have never disappointed their audience. That night she was great.
