Cairo Symphony Orchestra
The standing ovations with which the concerts of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra were met in both great halls of the Vienna Musikverein and Salzburg Mozarteum during its tour to Austria in May 2017, reaffirm the important role of the Orchestra as an eminent and unique cultural ambassador of Egypt, on the one hand, as well as its contribution as an important participant in enriching the serious music scene in Egypt. The Orchestra was founded in 1959 by the great Egyptian Renaissance man, Dr. Tharwat Okasha, during his tenure as Minister of Culture. Its first Principal Conductor Franz Litschauer was commissioned to develop its foregoing Egyptian Broadcasting Orchestra to a real symphony orchestra.
Since 1990, the Orchestra under its Music Director Maestro Ahmed El Saedi has succeeded in reaching new horizons on both the public and artistic levels.
Works by Bruckner, Mahler, Ravel, Debussy, Bartók, Hindemith, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Roussel and Messiaen have become an integral part of the Orchestra’s basic repertoire. Since the integration of A Cappella Choir into the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, both have performed together major works for chorus and orchestra. Performances of Handel’s “Messiah”, Mozart’s “Requiem”, Verdi’s “Requiem”, Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis”, Ninth Symphony and Mass in C major, Brahms’ “German Requiem”, Dvořák’s “Stabat Mater”, Mahler’s Second Symphony, Haydn’s “The Creation” and Szymanowski’s “Stabat Mater Dolorosa” were the result of this cooperation.
The Cairo Symphony Orchestra, as part of its mission towards audience with no previous profound exposure to classical music heritage, also performs concerts dedicated to musical education and appreciation. These concerts are scheduled in two separate series under the title “School and Family Concerts”.
The Cairo Symphony Orchestra has been conducted by many international guest conductors such as Charles Munch, Carlo Zecchi, Ottokar Truhlik, Ole Schmidt, Yehudi Menuhin, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Janos Kukla, Patrick Fournillier, Daniel Barenboim and others.
Among the soloists who have performed with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra are Rudolf Buchbinder, Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Joerg Demus, Ramzi Yassa, André Navarra, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Stefan Vladar, Christian Altenburger, Christiana Ortiz, Anastasia Chebotareva and Daniel Barenboim. The Orchestra under its Music Director, Ahmed El Saedi has released recordings of Beethoven’s five piano concertos and the “Choral Fantasy” featuring Ramzi Yassa as piano soloist and is about to release the complete nine symphonies on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the great composer.
The Cairo Symphony Orchestra has regularly toured many European countries with great success. His last performances at the Vienna Musikverein, Salzburg Mozarteum and Berlin Konzerthaus were met with tremendous ovations. Principal conductors of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra since its residency at the Cairo Opera House in 1991 include Ahmed El Saedi (1991-2003), Sergio Cárdenas (2003-2004), Christophe Mueller (2004-2005), Steven Lloyd (2005-2007), Andreas Spörri (2007-2008), Marcello Mottadelli (2008-2011) and Jiří Petrdlík (2012-2014).
Dr. Inès Abdel Daïm, the ex-Minister of Culture, former Chairman of the Cairo Opera House and Principal Flutist, was the Orchestra Director from 2003 till 2011.
Artistic Director
Yasser El Serafi
General Supervisor of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra
Born in Alexandria, he started to play violin at the Alexandria Conservatoire with Renato Borghese and Lisette Meguerdditchian at the age of six. In 1986, he won the 1st prize in the National Strings Competition.
In 1988, he received a scholarship from the French government to continue his studies in Paris. He was awarded four gold medals in Violin, chamber music, theory and conducting from the Conservatoire National de Rueil–Malmaison and the Conservatoire National de Paris.
He studied violin with Ruggiero Ricci (Italy), Ion Voicu (Romania), Gerard Poulet (France), Eric Friedman (USA), Kojy Tojoda (Japan).
He studied conducting with Gerard Devos (1st prize of Besancon International Conducting competition). Where he got 1st prize from C.N.R.de Rueil Malmaison
His debut with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra was in 1991 and 1993 at the Cairo Opera House Anniversaries. Since 1993, he has been Concertmaster of the Cairo symphony Orchestra and has performed recitals in Paris, Rome, Geneva and Japan at Ayoyama University, Suntory Hall, Kyoto Concert Hall.
In 1997, he received a Fulbright Scholarship to study violin with Erick Friedman at Yale University (in the U.S.A).
In 1999, he received a scholarship from the Japan Foundation to study the Suzuki Method in Matsumoto in Japan for 6 months. He also conducted the Cairo Symphony Orchestra on several occasions. He obtained a bachelor and Diploma Degree at Cairo Commerce University in 2005/2009.
He has performed a diverse repertoire, including works by Vivaldi, Haydn, Brahms, Korngold, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared in numerous recitals alongside internationally acclaimed pianists, including Ramzi Yassa in Egypt, Douglas Weeks in the United States, and Tadashi Suenaga in Japan. He served as Director of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra in 2012 and as its Artistic Advisor in 2013. Currently, El Serafi is the Artistic Director of Cairo Symphony Orchestra.
