Some of the festive mood envelops the opera, but Amal Choucri Catta goes home rather disappointed Christmas concert, Cairo Opera Orchestra, conductor Nayer Nagui and 19 vocal soloist, Main Hall COH, 15 and 17 December 8pm. Cairo Symphony Orchestra concert, conductor Christoph Mueller with pianist Esther Walker, Main Hall, COH 18 December 8pm. Christmas would never be Christmas without the bells, the tree, the white- bearded man in the red costume with the red bonnet they generally call "father Christmas" or "Santa Clause", and the many twinkling stars in velvet skies. Last week, at the Cairo Opera's Yuletide Concert, the main stage was plunged in a sea of silver bells, shining stars bearing good wishes and abundantly decorated Christmas trees. Wreaths of flowers adorned the front stage, while the backdrop was pompously glistening in black and gold. Once again director Jehane Mursi had done her best for the annual Christmas concert performed by Cairo Opera's orchestra, with the Celebration Choir and 19 vocal soloists under the most accomplished baton of conductor Nayer Nagui who had arranged and orchestrated the performed songs. It was a fabulous concert, though rather repetitive, with an abundance of "Ave Marias" and some rarely performed traditional Christmas carols. Starting with a nostalgic orchestral version of the "flowers' waltz" from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet, the concert opened its arms to the singers, introducing soprano Mona Rafla, who presented a theme from Haydn's "Creation" with the choir. Hers was Archangel Gabriel's solo "Mit Staunen sieht das Wunderwerk" (The Marvellous Work Behold, Amazed). Laid out for maximum clarity and brilliance, the soprano soared above chorus and orchestra to high pitches with stunning effect. The choir stayed on for the song: Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus", followed by mezzo-soprano Hala El-Shabouri with an as yet unknown hymn: "Ave Maria" by the Armenian composer Tchouhadjian. This song's rare manuscript was restored by Armenian pianist and coach Haig Avakian, who has been with Cairo Opera House since its opening 16 years ago. Baritone Ramez Lebbad was next with "Mighty God" from Bach's Christmas Oratorio and the enchanting mezzo soprano Hanan El-Guindi followed, giving the audience a magnificent version of Stradella's "Pieta Signore", with the female choir. With her beautiful voice, superb presence and excellent performance, El-Guindi is a highly appreciated Diva of the opera's lyric department. Handel's "Messiah" came next, with the young tenor, Hisham El- Guindi singing "Every valley shall be exalted". The singer would, however, be well advised to study the language, or at least try to master its pronunciation before attempting to delve into such sophisticated singing. He may know foreign languages but his elocution lacks clarity and fluidity. Jolie Faizy presented the second "Ave Maria" of the concert: this time it was Caccini's, with an overdose of artificial schmaltz. The concert's first part ended on a lovely note, though: soprano Izabella Fayed granted her audience a fascinating version of Mozart's celebrated "Hallelujah". Fayed's voice is clear, her timbre pure and her general performance was captivating. Finally with Redner's "O little town of Bethlehem", which opened the concert's second part, the audience could listen to one of the popular Christmas carols. It was splendidly sung by soprano Jacqueline Rafiq and followed by another traditional Christmas tune "Angles we have heard on high", by mezzo soprano Jehane El-Nasser and baritone Mustafa Mohamed with the choir. The tone suddenly changed when soprano Taheya Shams El-Dine appeared with an unexpected "Sancta Maria" on the "Intermezzo" -- tune from Pietro Mascagni's one-act opera "Cavalleria Rusticana". Taheya Shams El-Dine is one of the most brilliant Prima Donnas of the opera's lyric ensemble: her voice, limpid and rich, brings out all the heartfelt tenderness and evocative beauty of the arias she sings. As always, her performance was perfect. She was followed by a very young beginner, mezzo-soprano Gala El- Hadidi, with the traditional tune: "God rest you, gentlemen". She tried unsuccessfully to add colour and vivacity to her song, while frowning when she should have been smiling and performing all the wrong gestures. Though she does have a good voice, El-Hadidi should remember she is not yet a star and try not to overact. It is clear that the soloists of the younger generation are in urgent need of a coach, a "repetiteur" to teach them phonetics and elocution, expression and movement. They should be taught that opera is not only voice and high pitches, but also drama, theatre and acting, hence avoiding the tendency to overact or make the wrong gestures and movements. Soprano Nevine Allouba, another important Diva of the opera's lyric ensemble, came next to sing about her "Glow worm", as she has done at several previous occasions. It is a colourful, pleasant tune she sings beautifully. Bass- baritone Abdel-Wahab El-Sayed sang the traditional German song: "O Tannenbaum". His rich, strong voice is a real pleasure, his phonetics rather disappointing. Tenor Tamer Tewfik followed with the choir singing John Wade's "Adeste Fiedeles", while soprano Dalia Farouk was loudly cheered for Adolphe Adam's "O holy night" and the famous "Minuit, Chrétiens". She sang brilliantly in English and French with the choir. Her extraordinary performance was one of the rather rare highlights of this concert, which continued with Aron's "Jesu bambino", beautifully sung by bass-baritone Reda El-Wakil, followed by tenor Walid Korayem singing Bizet's "Agnus Dei", and soprano Iman Mustafa coming on with Franck's "Panis Angelicus". In the end, however, the tone changed much to the relief and joy of the audience who, longing for another real Christmas carol, happily applauded baritone Elhamy Amin and his "Santa Clause is coming to town". In his usual debonair, winning way, mingled with a little naughty sarcasm and a big smile, he gave the audience a ravishing performance with the members of the choir suddenly wearing father Christmas's bonnets on their heads while delving into musical jokes with a lonely trumpet. The enraptured audience kept screaming for more: Elhamy Amin had done it again, as with "Papageno" and other performances, he succeeded once more in bringing the house down. He is a star who deserves star roles. His flamboyant "Santa Clause" was the fabulous highlight of the evening. The second concert last week was not dedicated to Christmas, but to Mozart and Max Reger, with Cairo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christoph Mueller presenting one of their weekly concerts on Saturday at the opera's Main Hall. The Maestro would be well advised not to leave Cairo's symphonists over longer periods of time; they tend towards indiscipline. Saturday they once again arrived on stage talking and laughing, a preoccupation they even managed to pursue while playing and waiting for their respective cues. Such an attitude is particularly disagreeable to the audience and detrimental to the performance. The musicians' lack of concentration makes them play without deep feeling and their performance comes across as cold and expressionless. Saturday was a vivid example of such an unfortunate exercise. The concert started with a rather listless overture to Mozart's "Figaros Hochzeit", KV 482, with soloist, young Esther Walker from Switzerland. A good pianist Walker's performances would be better if she stopped externalising her feelings and concentrated more on the music. She has a visible tendency to overact and make a show of her ecstatic feelings of rapture and bliss, which is often quite annoying to the audience; the listener wants to hear music and not to see the performer's arms and hands gesticulating and flying in the air. The orchestra, furthermore, was rather slow; often incapable of synchronising their cues with the soloist. The second part of the concert presented "Variations and Fugue on a theme of Mozart for orchestra" Opus 132, by Max Reger, largely unknown to local audiences. The eight variations followed by the Allegretto grazioso Fugue were quite interesting and performed with a larger amount of concentration and feeling by the orchestra, who seemed to arise from its pervious lethargy. The concert should have been a grand event, which it was not. One looks forward to better performances with the coming of the new year.
