No publicity, no audience. And that, writes Amal Choucri Catta, is a shame Baden-Wuerttemberg Youth Orchestra, cond. Christoph Wyneken, 27 April, and Cairo Symphony Orchestra, conductor Steven Lloyd, 22 and 29 April: Main Hall, Cairo Opera House, 8pm. On 27 April the German Baden-Wuerttemberg Youth Orchestra was conducted by Christoph Wyneken, former concert master of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. This great master of music and his fabulous orchestra of around 90 instrumentalists, aged between 14 and 20, and three soloists, performed before an audience of less than a hundred. Nothing had gone well for the ensemble: the pamphlet distributed the night of the concert announced only one part of the programme, the responsible staff of the opera's printing department having omitted to print the rest of the programme which had to be announced by the conductor. Maestro Wyneken made the announcement with dignity: turning to the audience after having conducted the overture he sighed at the empty hall and thanked all those who did show up for the concert, telling them that the orchestra also finds joy playing only for themselves because they love music. He then announced the rest of the missing programme, and in the end granted his scant audience the pleasure of an encore. But warm-hearted bravos and non- stop clapping could never make up for the 1,300 empty seats that night. Thus the question we have to ask again is where lies the reason of this absolute lack of interest on behalf of the opera's staff? This concert, like many others, had not been announced on the usual TV-channels and only small flyers were distributed, and then late. Such lack of publicity is appalling, and doubly so when the orchestra, soloists and conductor are as excellent as these. The strings sounded pure as a spring morning in the Alps. Woodwind and the brass gleamed and the percussion was as colourful as a rainbow. The Main Hall should have been filled with instrumentalists and students from the Conservatoire: they would have had an exemplary lesson in discipline. The concert opened with the overture of Mikhail Glinka's five-act opera Ruslan and Lyudmilla, a fascinating fairy-tale based on one of Alexander Pushkin's epic poems, bearing musically emotional sequences of Ruslan's fantastic search for Lyudmilla. The fairy-tale was followed by two pieces for violin and orchestra: Tchaikovsky's Meditation and Valse Scherzo, with the Ukrainian Alexander Jussow as soloist. He is 18, a brilliant player and the winner of many international competitions. His thrilling Tchaikovsky was followed by Carl Maria von Weber's Concertino in E-flat major for clarinet and orchestra with soloist Sherif El-Razzaz, who has made his musical career in Europe while returning to Cairo to give regular recitals and concerts. Alexander Arutjunjan's concert for trumpet and orchestra came next with soloist Andre Schoch, a 19-year-old German who produces clear tones and has a promising breathing technique. In the end Tchaikovsky returned with the lovely concert fantasy Romeo and Juliet, while Mussorgsky appeared in the encore with the orchestral work Night on the Bare Mountain, inspired by the witches' sabbath in Gogol's story St John's Eve. Maestro Wyneken seemed at this point to have forgiven the opera for the empty hall and other difficulties. The scant audience applauded the performance long and hard. On 29 April, with the Cairo Symphony conducted by Steven Lloyd, there were as many musicians on stage as listeners in the hall, despite an interesting programme. Egyptian composer Tarek Ali Hassan was there to listen to his Variations on a Folk Theme, an interesting, colourful piece that opened the concert and was followed by Franz Josef Haydn's Piano concerto in D, with Irish soloist David Quigley at the keyboard. Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique closed a concert that deserved a full house. The situation was identical to that of a week earlier when, on 22 April, Lloyd conducted the symphonists in a difficult programme comprising Khatchaturian's Concerto for violin and orchestra in D-minor, with Yasser El-Serafi as soloist, and Bela Bartok's five-part Concerto for orchestra. The performance was excellent and the applause spontaneous, though it sounded thin. The sparse attendance at all three concerts reflects inadequate management at the Opera House. In addition to virtually no publicity, three concerts were cancelled last month, meaning that members of the public, even if they do get to hear of a performance, have no way of guaranteeing it will actually take place. So is it end-of-season's blues or summer somnolence causing the chaos? The staff seems indifferent to performances. When asked, they churn out the expected excuses -- the heat, exam season, inappropriate timing. But the weather comes as no surprise, and exams happen at the same time every year. If you want an audience you must let them know what it is that is happening, and then make sure it happens when you say it will.
