The closing Gala Concert of the Cairo Opera Orchestra was a wonderful surprise for the audience. The beautiful operatic arias, sung by three young Egyptian tenors, reminded one of the unforgettable concerts launched by the three legendary tenors José Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, 19 years ago. This was the first such concert in Egypt and it was indeed a festive occasion. All three tenors are new young voices, enriching opera in Egypt, which generally lacks tenors. The mastermind behind the concert, at the Nile side Cairo Opera House, was the conductor Nader Abbassi, who chose the programme, cleverly arranging it to suit the three young voices. The arias chosen are all popular with audiences and not too technically demanding. There were no unjust comparisons with the great opera stars Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti; on the contrary, the audience were very sympathetic and understanding, giving the trio every encouragement.The concert, which opened with an orchestral piece, included some other musical intermezzos interspersed among the arias. The three tenors sang as a trio, but they also sang solo arias too. The three stars of the evening were Ragaa Eddin Ahmed, Hani el-Shafei and Amr Medhat, who've all received professional training at the Cairo Conservatory and were appearing in this concert for the first time as soloists. The two-part concert started with an opera overture - Puccini's Preludio Sinfonico op. 1 in A major opened the first part. One of Puccini's early works from 1892, it bears some Wagnerian influence and contains a number of technical difficulties. The second part of the concert opened with Carmen's overture. This opera, part of the repertoire of the Cairo Opera Orchestra, is an old favourite of the audience. Therefore, a second orchestral piece from the same opera (Entr'acte) featured after the intermission as well.The three tenors sang together five arias in the programme, three in the first part and two in the second. They were first introduced to the audience in Puccini's well-known 'Nessun Dorma' from his opera Turandot. They then sang 'O Surdato Innamorato' by Enrico Cannio and finished the first part of the concert with de Curtis' 'Torna a Suriento'. Another aria of de Curtis ('Non ti Scordar di Me') was presented in the second half of the programme. The famous song 'O Sole Mio' by Eduardo di Capua marked the finale for the trio. 'O Sole Mio' was always the last piece presented by the three acclaimed tenors in their famous concerts that started in Rome 1990. This Neapolitan song has a brilliantly attractive tinge that always contributes to a grandiose finale, to fervent applause.The programme consisted of 20 numbers as follows: three orchestral pieces, five songs presented by the trio, and twelve solo arias, four by each of the three tenors. These arias perfectly suited the characteristics and experiences of each of the three tenors. Ahmed sang very expressive and dramatic arias. His first aria was 'Recondita Harmonia' from Puccini's Tosca, reflecting the composer's dramatic style. 'Musica Proibita' by Tosti was Ahmed's second aria, full of passionate and tender feelings. His singing of 'La Fleur' from the opera Carmen by Bizet caught the audience's attention because of its expressiveness, which Ahmed brought out outstandingly. His last solo aria, 'O Souverain, o Juge, o Père', from Le Cid by Massenet, is one of two famous tenor arias from this opera. Its bravura expresses victory and challenge in a warlike atmosphere, very different from the previous romantic arias sung by Ahmed, who has proved to be echnically well trained with a remarkably expressive dramatic voice. He is surely destined for great things. The second promising tenor, el-Shafei, started with the French aria 'Pourquoi me Reveiller?' from the opera Werther by Massent. It's one of the most famous arias in this opera and has a melancholic mood. The hero sings it when he discovers that his lover has got married to another man. El-Shafei then sang the beautiful aria 'Una Furtiva Lagrima' from Donizetti's opera L'Elisir d'Amor, which needs a lot of vocal ornamentation. This was also clear in the perfect choice of Verdi's 'La Donna e Mobile' from Rigoletto, and 'La Danza' by Rossini. The former was one of Pavarotti's famous arias, while the latter was frequently performed by Pavarotti and Carreras. 'La Danza' was a real challenge for el-Shafei who sang it in a way that was immensely entertaining. It's a flamboyant aria that requires highly technical vocal skills. The third star of the concert was Medhat, who is still studying in the Cairo Conservatory. He sang 'Di tu sai Fedle' from Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, which has a folkloric flavour; 'Non piangere Liu' from Turandot; and 'Che Gelida' from La Boheme by Puccini. In addition, he entertained the audience with the short but sweet aria 'Amor ti Vieta' from Giordano's opera Fedora. These sensibly selected arias were ideal for this gifted young tenor.These new Egyptian tenors proved that they have a great future. We expect them to memorise many the same roles and arias from the world's great operas as Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti did. Some of the arias were from the Cairo Opera Company and Cairo Opera Orchestra repertory, such as Rigoletto, Un Ballo in Maschera, Turandot, Tosca and La Boheme. Others were a beautiful addition to the repertoire of both the artists and audience of the Cairo Opera House such as the arias from L'Elisir d'Amor of Donizetti, Fedora of Giordano, Le Cid and Wether of Massenet, and the works of De Curtis and Tosti. This gala concert marked a fantastic end to the Cairo Opera Orchestra season.
