Amal Choucri Catta attends a welcome return The 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is being celebrated from New York to Paris and from London to Tehran. Last week in Cairo the Austrian Cultural Forum, in cooperation with the Sawi Cultural Centre, organised a Mozart night featuring the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, founded by , who serves as its principal conductor and music director. El-Saedi launched a similar ensemble, the Egyptian Chamber Orchestra, in 1989. El-Saedi's responsibilities as the newly-appointed principal conductor of Cairo's Symphony Orchestra -- which at the time was in dire need of a velvet- gloved iron hand -- led him to concentrate all his energies on the symphonists and the Egyptian Chamber Orchestra folded in 1996. After 10 years of uninterrupted success the maestro was released from his obligations as head of Cairo's Symphony Orchestra and his thoughts once again turned to his original project. He created the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra in 2003, giving concerts at different venues. The new Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra aspires to a high standard of performance while promoting and encouraging young musicians, giving them the opportunity to perform orchestral music on a regular basis within a framework free from bureaucratic pressures. Recently the orchestra became part of a non-governmental organisation, the Egyptian Philharmonic Society, which provides a solid basis for moral and financial support. The Austrian Cultural Forum and El-Sawi Cultural Centre must be thanked for assisting and promoting this new Egyptian orchestra which will be giving a series of concerts during the current season. Their programme provides for a panorama of Western music for chamber orchestra, as well as performances of standard formations -- quartets, quintets, trios and others. Guest stars and guest conductors, singers and instrumental soloists are also foreseen. The orchestra's inaugural concert at El-Sawi attracted a capacity audience, with additional seats having to be brought into the already overfilled hall. Dedicated entirely to Mozart's music, on the very day of his birth, the concert featured the young Austrian pianist Gerda Struhal, who gave the audience an interesting version of Mozart's piano Concerto in E-flat Major K 271, the Jeunehomme. One should note that the relatively small size of the stage, the poor acoustics and the often disturbing street noises make this a far from ideal venue. While listening to the lovely music and watching the performances of the pianist, the maestro and the musicians, it was sad to think of the lavish Small Hall at Cairo Opera House, with its excellent acoustics and stage, being devoid of cultural activity. Yet the Opera House refuses to grant El-Saedi a chance to perform with his orchestra on its stages while accepting musical ensembles of a lesser standard. To anyone involved in music the Opera's stubborn refusal seems like a personal vendetta against El-Saedi. Such personal vendettas are not new to Egypt's symphonic history: in the 1980s maestro Kamal Hilal was, and has remained to this day, the victim of one such vendetta. The same goes for the late maestro Sayed Awad, creator of the Arabic opera Cleopatra -- which has never been produced -- and of the Yarmouk Symphony, the fate of which seems also to be oblivion. And then there are the many promising young conductors who left Egypt because they were never given a chance. While musing over these sad events of the past one could not help but be glad that maestro El-Saedi has been luckier. He now has the possibility to perform on a solid basis, free from institutional pressure. It would be churlish in such circumstances to object to the street noises, the acoustics or the size of the stage. The concert opened with two intermezzi from Thomas King in Egypt K 345, created by Mozart for Baron Tobias Philipp von Gebler's musical drama which, in turn, was inspired by Abbé Jean Terasson's novel Sethos. Mozart and von Gebler were both Freemasons, and there are many similarities between Thomas and The Magic Flute : both feature evil women, priests of the sun, the kidnapping of a princess and her marriage to the hero. The intermezzi were followed by the Jeunehomme piano concerto, brilliantly performed by Gerda Struhal, acclaimed as a "grand piano magician, able to combine harmony of soul with perfect technique". It is interesting to note that recent discoveries have identified the French pianist Victoire Jenamy -- who was in Salzburg in 1777 -- as Mozart's Jeunehomme. The concerto is original in its colour and conception. Struhal had the youthful charm, the intuition, as well as the poetic insight and the musical spontaneity to confound those who say that while one can always trust Mozart to deliver the goods one cannot always trust musicians to deliver Mozart. His music looks simple on the score but he is a devil to perform properly. This time, though, with El-Saedi conducting his own musicians and Struhal coming all the way from Vienna to perform, Mozart was perfectly delivered. The concert closed brilliantly with the Symphony in A-major K 201, one of Mozart's most pleasing works. The audience welcomed back maestro El-Saedi, giving him and his musicians a standing ovation.
