♣ The celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Cairo Opera House coincided with the bicentenary of the birth of Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. On the occasion, the Italian Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute in Cairo, in collaboration with the Cairo Opera House, held a press conference on Monday attended by Italian Ambassador to Egypt Maurizio Massari, Chairperson of the Opera Ines Abdel-Dayem, Angelo Carrara Verdi, the grandson of Verdi, photographer Sandro Vannini, together with maestro Nayier Nagui and Opera Director Abdallah Saad. During the conference, Massari said the embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute are offering a miscellaneous programme to mark this “great event” (see Listings p.21), while Angelo seized the opportunity to express his happiness to participate in the celebration and that he has “inherited Egypt's love” from his grandfather who inspired a number of his masterpieces from the glory of the ancient Egyptian civilisation. Angelo said that Verdi's house was furnished with a lot of items in the Pharaonic style.
