Despite a tedious New Year's concert, Amal Choucri Catta feels optimistic about the coming months' offerings at the Cairo Opera House Cairo Opera's main stage was a sad sight that last night of the year. The general mood had been high at the entrance: crowds had been flocking in, admiring the immense Christmas tree in the foyer, with its colourful decorations. But that was all they admired: on entering the main hall their disappointment was overwhelming. One question seemed to be popping up at every step they were taking: "where had all the flowers gone?" At this point many remembered Ahmed El-Saedi, founder of the yearly "New Year's Concert", which had always attracted audiences in large numbers and had irrevocably been a spectacle of merriment and joy, with the main stage richly decorated with stars and moons, Christmas trees and flowers, while the words "Happy New Year" were slowly lowered from the ceiling, as confetti and balloons floated into the main hall, giving the audience something to giggle about, while spontaneously clapping to the rhythm of Strauss's "Radetzky Marsch". Those were the nights when happy smiles lit up all faces, when cries of good wishes resounded through the hall and audiences left with a song in their heart and a strong belief in a better year. This time, regrettably, the event was rather drab and colourless. Devoid of flowers, lights, Christmas trees and the entire Yuletide paraphernalia, the spectacle turned into a simple concert of Cairo's Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the "electrifying, passionate" American Alexander Frey, who stole the show, giving up much of his musical time while talking to the audience. Frey seemed to be enjoying telling his tales, regardless of the positive or negative reaction of the audience. As an internationally acclaimed virtuoso organist and pianist, Frey could not resist including Charles Kalman's Hudson Concerto for piano and orchestra, which many considered as a "corps estranger" in this musical event dedicated to Strauss and Lehar. For the Viennese, and for millions of people around the world, the annual Strauss Fest, performed in the golden hall of Vienna's "Musikverein" by the fantastic Vienna Philharmonic, in the morning of every first January, represents the perfect beginning to a New Year. Over one billion people in 65 countries share this lovely experience by way of its global broadcast. Originally dedicated exclusively to the music of the Strauss family, other composers have occasionally been included in this concert, such as Josef Lanner and Franz Lehar, Franz von Suppe and Otto Nivolai, all of whom have never been considered as a "corps estranger". What makes the Viennese New Year's concert so popular throughout the world is the sheer sense of joy in its music and its sense of tradition. It must however be said that at Cairo Opera's main hall the symphonists were quite brilliant on New Year's Eve, while the soprano solo, Italian Simona Baldolini, an interesting performer with a good voice, did not get the place in the limelight she would have deserved. Though Frey took it all, he was incapable of turning the concert into a real event. Hopefully this will not be the case for other performances during the current Season. Cairo Opera house is promising a number of interesting events, among which one of the most important and the most fascinating is doubtless the famous Swiss pantomime show "Mummenschanz", planned for 24 and 25 April in Cairo opera's Main Hall and on 27 April in Alexandria's Sayed Darwish Theatre. "Mummenschanz" has already been enthusiastically applauded at the opera's main hall in the late eighties, before disappearing from the performing scene due to the death of the founder and director. Lately the performances have been revived and "Mummenschanz" has once again turned into one of the most popular shows. Switzerland is furthermore planning a series of programmes as a present for Cairo Opera's twentieth anniversary, starting with an official opening and a concert by François Lindemann's "Piano Seven" on 13 January. Under the title "Swiss tales", the programme is an ambitious artistic and musical event, comprising performances by prestigious groups, such as the "Zurchere Ballett" on 11 and 12 February, "Drift" on 9 and 10 October and musical concerts, by the Swiss conductor Andreas Sporri, and the "Galatea Quartet" on 20 and 21 November. There will also be quite a lot of dancing for the opera's twentieth jubilee, starting on the 9, 10 and 11 of the current month with the German National Ballet Theatre of Mannheim and the local "Romeo and Juliet" planned from 20 January to 3 February. These will be followed by "Kalanjali Folkloric Dance Company", USA-India, on 4 and 5 February, and by the American Ballet Theatre "Metropolitan Opera House" from 12 through 15 February. The Cairo Ballet Company will be presenting "Carmina Burana" and "Zorba" from 4 to 11 March, followed on 21 to 24 March by the National Academic Bolshoi Ballet Theatre of the Republic of Belarus. On programme: "Swan Lake". Dancing will go on from 9 to 11 April by the National ballet of Cuba, presenting "Don Quixote". With springtime knocking at the door, Cairo Opera Ballet Company will be turning to ancient sagas with five nights of "Odysseus ballet" from 6 to 13 of May, followed on 18 and 19 of the same month by a repetition of Walid Aouni's "Smell of ice". June's summer nights seem to be devoid of dancing which returns, however from 8 to 11 July with Cairo Opera's ballet company presenting "Egyptian nights". This season seems also to attract opera, such as "A masked ball" from 21 to 23 January, "Rigoletto" from 22 to 27 June. The operas are all local productions presented by Cairo's opera company with the opera's orchestra. As for the symphonists, they will be presenting Igor Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex" on 12 January, Gustav Mahler's Sixth Symphony on 15 March, Franz Josef Haydn's "Creation" on 28 June, as well as regular Saturday concerts with conductors Ahmed El Saedi, Nader Abbassi, Andreas Sporri, Marcello Motadelli, Nayer Nagui, Christoph Mueller and different guest conductors. We shall, furthermore, enjoy a number of interesting foreign concerts, such as the "twelve pianists" from Germany on 30 March, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from Britain on 26 and 27 March, the "Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra" from the United States on 18 February and "Sanja Ilic and Balkanika Music Concert", from Serbia, on 8 February. Though local productions are mostly "deja vu", the programme is quite varied and interesting -- it will hopefully not suffer from last-minute changes or cancellations.
