CAIRO - The newly appointed Cairo Opera House chairman has stressed that his main task is to protect the institution from any outside influence and to promote opera, concerts, fine arts and related activities. "I will follow the footsteps of my predecessors and work to protect the rights of the artists and workers and promote activities in all fields of the arts," the new Opera House chairman, Badr el-Zaqaziqi told the Egyptian Mail in an interview. Badr added that one of his conditions for accepting the position was to keep the opera away from any outside intervention. Badr refuted the idea that his appointment was a step towards what people describe as ‘Ikhwanisation' of the Opera House or spreading the Muslim brothers' influence throughout it. "Until now no such behaviour has existed, and if any one wants to behave like this, they have to send me out of office first," said el-Zaqaziqi, who insists that he does not belong to any political party or movement. He also emphasised that work is now underway in all sectors of the Opera House despite the protests, which have ravaged the ministry of culture. For several weeks now, a number of Egyptian intellectuals and artists have been staging a sit-in at the premises of ministry of culture asking the newly appointed minister of culture Alaa Abdel-Aziz to leave office. Artists have been angered by several actions carried out by the minister made since President Morsi appointed him on May 7. Abdel-Aziz had fired several crucial figures from Egypt's top cultural institutions, including Inas Abdel-Dayem, chairperson of the Cairo Opera House. El-Zaqaziqi states that he was also annoyed by the way of dismissing Abdel-Dayem, the former Opera head: "I even joined protestors in their sit-in at the time," he said. El-Zaqaziqi said that he hesitated in accepting the position when it was offered to him, after noted opera singer Reda el-Wakil refused it. "I only accepted when the minister told me that, if I refused, he would bring in an outsider for the position, and the most important thing for me is to keep the Opera away from the influence of outsiders," said el-Zaqaziqi. He has worked at the Cairo Opera for more than twenty years as an engineer. "Today I work for reinforcing the different Cairo Opera components and I am preparing for the different artistic festivals the opera organises," he said, adding that he maintains good friendship with all the artists and has no rifts with any of them. He also added that in spite of the political turmoil in the country, he is now in talks with different foreign renowned artists to perform at the Cairo Opera House. Some of the local Opera House artists have been giving live performances in the street in front of the ministry of culture as part of a cultural festivity that is being held in the framework of the protests against the minister.
