Cairo Opera Orchestra
Since the founding of the Cairo Opera Orchestra in 1994, it has played a main role in Egypt’s music scene. The orchestra’s repertoire includes a vast number of celebrated classic ballets and famous operas or operettas which are successfully performed with the Cairo Opera Ballet Company or the Cairo Opera Company.
In 1995, Sherif Mohie El Din was appointed as an Orchestra Director, and the Orchestra was joined by an increasing number of talented Egyptian musicians. Shortly afterwards, they appeared in a series of symphonic afternoon concerts under the name of “Music for All”, which won instant acclaim.
The Orchestra has been headed by various Egyptian and international conductors such as Patrick Fournillier, Dominique Rouits (France), Robert Lyall (USA), Ivan Filiev (Bulgaria), Giorgio Croci (Italy), Youssef El Sisi (Egypt) and Moustafa Nagui. Among the soloists participating in the orchestra concerts are the renowned Monserrat Caballe, Wolfgang Marschner, Gisèle Herbet, Dame Malvina Mayor, as well as top Egyptian soloists. In addition to its important role in national tours, the Orchestra was invited to several tours in countries such as Austria, Germany, France and Lebanon.
In the 2002/2003 season, Nader Abbassi was appointed Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Cairo Opera Orchestra. He significantly advanced the Orchestra’s skills by encouraging a versatile, professional approach to the performance of music.
To broaden the skills of the musicians and solo singers, Nader Abbassi added to the schedule orchestral performances, called Gala Concerts. Up to seven Gala Concerts of outstanding quality are performed each season.
The Cairo Opera Orchestra participated in famous ballets, operas and Gala Concerts including Verdi’s epic “Aida”, which was performed at the Pyramids platform. The Orchestra collaborated with the Geneva Chamber Orchestra and the Spirit of Europe Orchestra in two Gala Concerts and participated in some of the world’s most renowned music festivals such as Ludwigshafen, Germany, or Servantino and Tamaulipas Festivals in Mexico.
Since season 2011/2012, Nayer Nagui is Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Cairo Opera Orchestra.
Artistic Director
Nayer Nagui
Principle Conductor & Artistic Director
He was born in Alexandria, 1970. Nayer Nagui joined the Alexandria Conservatoire, where he studied piano under the Italian Prof. Herta Pappo.
Furthered his musical studies in Cairo, where he obtained the advanced certificate of the Royal Schools of Music, London, in Piano Performing and Theory of Music, 1996.
Nayer Nagui studied Conducting with Prof. Maestro Dominique Rouits at L'École Normale de Musique de Paris where he obtained his Diploma of Conducting in 2001.
His vast repertoire ranges from symphonic, opera, oratorios and ballet conducting to musicals, and light music. Among it, Rossini’s 3 Comic Operas, Verdi’s “Aida”, “Rigoletto”, “Un Ballo in Maschera”, “La Traviata”, Puccini’s “Tosca”, “La Bohème”, Donizetti's “L'Elisir d'Amore” and Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte , Così Fan Tutte”, and Maroun Rahi’s “Antar wa Abla”. His ballet repertoire includes, Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet”, Ravel’s “Bolero”, Khachaturian's “Spartacus”, Theodorakis’s “Zorba”, Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker”, “Swan Lake”, Adam’s “Le Corsaire", “Giselle”, Minkus’s “Don Quixote”, “La Bayadère” and Stravinsky's “Firebird”.
As for oratorios and choral works, it includes Mozart, Brahms, Fauré and Verdi Requiems as well as Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Schubert Stabat Matter, Vivaldi’s and Poulenc’s Glorias, Saygun’s Yunus Emre, Prokofiev’s “Alexander Nevski” Cantata, Mozart’s C minor Mass, Beethoven’s C Major Mass as well as Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Nayer Nagui wrote many compositions and arrangements for choir, orchestra and soloists, performed in Egypt and in several international festivals around the world, amongst them the music for the celebration convened by the Ministry of Culture marking the Golden Jubilee of the nationalization of Suez Canal, and the music for the celebration convened by the Algerian Ministry of Culture marking Algiers as the Capital of Arabic Culture in 2006.
His arrangements of Sayed Darwish Songs for Choir won the Silver Award for Stylish Interpretation of Arab Music in “Prague Voices” Choir Competition 2012, and the Silver Award Diploma in the “World Choir Games” Competition in Sochi 2016.
