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Cairo Symphony Orchestra
The Cairo Symphony Orchestra was founded
in 1959 and ever since it has played an
eminent and unique role in promoting and
enriching the musical life in Egypt. The
orchestra’s first music director and
conductor was Franz Litschauer. Ahmed
Ebeid and Youssef El-Sisi, two Egyptian
conductors, succeeded the maestro as
chief conductors. Performing at the
former Cairo Opera House, the orchestra
gave symphonic concerts, accompanied
opera and ballet performances including
both local and foreign companies among
which were the famous Russian ballets
Bolshoy and Kirov, and the Royal Ballet
of London.
With the beginning of the Cairo Symphony
Orchestra's residence at the New Cairo
Opera House in 1990 and under the
directorship of maestro Ahmed El-Saedi
the orchestra restricted its activities
to symphonic works. This opened up new
horizons for the orchestra in terms of
repertoire and number of concerts. Works
by Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler, Ravel,
Debussy, Schönberg, Bartók, Stravinsky,
Prokofiev and Shostakovich have become
an integral part of its repertoire.
Since the integration of the A Cappella
choir into the Cairo Symphony Orchestra
they have performed major choral works,
for example Handel's Messiah, Mozart's
Requiem, Verdi's Requiem, Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony and Missa Solemnis,
Mahler's Second Symphony and Brahms's A
German Requiem.
Among the highlights organised and
performed by the Cairo Symphony
Orchestra during the past several
seasons were the Arab Perspectives
Festival, the Beethoven Festival
celebrating the 175th anniversary of his
death, the Twentieth Century Music
Festival and the International Workshop
for Orchestra Conducting.
Distinguished composers like Aram
Khachaturian and Ahmed Adnan Saygun have
conducted their own compositions with
the Cairo Symphony Orchestra. The
orchestra has played a crucial role in
the development of Egyptian contemporary
music and the inspiration of Egyptian
musicians – soloists and conductors
alike.
The list of outstanding international
guest conductors includes Charles Munch,
Carlo Zecchi, Ottokar Truhlik, Ole
Schmidt, Yehudi Menuhin, Gennady
Rozhdestvenzky, Janos Kukla, Patrick
Fournillier and others.
Among the soloists who performed with
the Cairo Symphony Orchestra are Rudolf
Buchbinder, Abdel Rahman El-Basha, Joerg
Demus, Ramzi Yassa, Andre Navara,
Mstilav Rostopovitch, Viktoria
Postenikova, Steven Vlader and Christian
Altenburger
The Cairo Symphony Orchestra regularly
tours European and Middle Eastern
countries with great success. In 2004,
Christoph Mueller became music director
and principal conductor of the Cairo
Symphony Orchestra, followed by Steven
Lloyd for the seasons 2005/06 and
2006/07. With Andreas Spoerri as
Principal Guest Conductor, the orchestra
will again have a Swiss maestro for the
2007/08 season.
Dr. Inès Abdel Daim,
first solo flute of CSO is director of
the orchestra.
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