Amal Choucri Catta imbibes the Yuletide spirit Christmas Concert, dir. Jehane Morsi, Cairo Opera Company, Cairo Symphony Orchestra and Celebration Choir, cond. Nayer Nagui, 14 and 15 December, Main Hall Cairo Opera House, 8pm Last week's concerts ended beautifully with two nights of Christmas carols and songs presented by 12 soloists of Cairo Opera's lyric company, with Cairo's Symphony Orchestra and Celebration Choir conducted by the ever popular Nayer Nagui at the Opera's Main Hall. Both nights opened to a full house, with Christmas trees and silver bells, red carpeting, multi-coloured lights and a plethora of decorative paraphernalia gracing the stage. The backdrop was artfully inscribed with Yuletide and New Year's greetings while the 100 members of the choir, with slender red shawls trimming their black costumes, made a pretty picture. The symphonists were placed on an elevated orchestra pit, with the soloists marching down the red carpet to microphones set up front stage. The entire show was directed by Jehane Morsi, renowned for her excellent taste: conductor Nayer Nagui, together with the orchestra, the soloists, the choir and the audience, visibly enjoyed the marvelous spectacle. It opened with the "Polonaise" from Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Christmas Eve, a village comedy of entertaining brilliance unknown to local audiences. It was followed by the choir singing "Ding Dong" and by soprano Jacqueline Rafik singing Franz Griuber's well-known "Silent Night" with the choir and the orchestra. Rafik has developed a tremolo which is not to her advantage: she was, furthermore, too close to the microphone, turning her high notes into unpleasant shrieks, which was regrettable, her voice being of the pure and sensitive type. She would be well advised to concentrate on a more even fluidity of voice, and to avoid getting to close to the microphone. Rafik was followed by a French traditional song "Angels we have heard on high", beautifully sung by soprano Mona Rafla. Rafla is an excellent performer with a warm, lovely voice and a brilliant presence on stage. "What child is this" is a song based on a sixteenth-century British melody, performed to perfection by baritone Elhami Amin. Amin remained on stage for his second song, the popular Gillespie-Coots' "Santa Claus is coming to Town", a very debonair, rhythmic tune. Amin opened with a steady beat, evocative of old-timer Frank Sinatra in his youth, mesmerising the attentive audience. Everyone liked his style, his happy-go-lucky attitude, his smart and witty performance. Next came Nevine Allouba, one of Egypt's loveliest sopranos, with Mozart's "Hallelujah", and mezzo soprano Gala El-Hadidi with Vivaldi's "Amen". Both followed their performance with Abends will ich schlafen gehn from Humperdinck's opera Haensel und Gretel. Allouba studied opera and vocal pedagogy at the Hannover Hochschule fuer Musik und Theater, obtaining her doctorate in 1989. She sang on the opening night of Cairo's new Opera House in October 1988 and has represented Egypt in many international venues. In 1987-1988 she was, furthermore, soloist at Germany's Detmold Opera House. Her rich repertoire includes all important operas, as well as lieder, oratorios and chamber works. She has a pure, lyric voice and an enchanting presence on stage. As for El-Hadidi, she is, relatively, a young newcomer with a good mezzo-soprano timbre, lacking, however, the maturity that may, in due time, turn her into a prima donna. She would be well advised to concentrate on her diction, her breathing technique, as well as on her movements and general stage presence. The first part of the concert closed with Cesar Franck's "Panis Angelicus" sung by Egypt's dramatic soprano Iman Mustafa, and with Poulenc's "Laudamus Te" sung by the choir. These songs were quite beautiful, though they did seem rather out of place in the general Christmas carol ambiance: they would have been more appropriate in a programme entirely dedicated to religious music. The concert's second part opened with a well-known traditional English carol "The twelve nights of Christmas", superbly presented by soprano Dalia Farouk, the real queen of the show, who gave her audience an exquisite performance. She is young and slender and beautiful, with a fabulous stage presence and excellent taste in the choice of her gowns. Her flawless, lovely voice, her perfect diction and expressive interpretation were magnificent. She was followed by Sobhi Bedeir, the admirable tenor turned crooner, giving us a moving version of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas". Bedeir passed from his dream of a white Christmas to wishing the audience merry and bright days. He was showered with applause and bravissimi. Pappalardo's "Ave Maria" came next with bass-baritone Reda El Wakil giving, as always, a radiant performance. He won first prize winner at the Placido Domingo competition in Paris in 1994 and at the international singing competition in Toulouse in 1995. Tenor Tamer Twefik followed with Wade's popular "Adeste Fideles" while the choir added warmth and brilliance to the soloists. With the "Three Kings" and other songs that followed, Nayer Nagui once again succeeded in giving his audience two gorgeous performances: he is one of the most attractive and appreciated conductors, much loved by musicians and singers and by audiences. Nagui is the founder and conductor of the Cairo Celebration Choir, with around 160 members, performing light music as well as oratorios and choral works. Though young -- he was born in Alexandria in 1970 -- he is blessed with remarkable maturity and his extraordinary musicianship is admired by young and old alike. Though sopranos Amira Selim and Sarah Enani, as well as Taheya Shams El-Din and mezzo-soprano Hanan El-Guindi, who are brilliant singers and extraordinary performers, were missed we did appreciate the climax of the show with French soprano Caroline Dumas and tenor Hassan Kami singing Adolphe Adam's moving "Minuit Chretiens". At the very end choir and soloists gave us Felix Mendelssohn's "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", for which all performers got a standing ovation. It was, indeed, a fabulous show.
