The Colombian embassy in Cairo has marked Colombia’s National Day with a concert at the Cairo Opera House, under the title “Encounter of Two Worlds”.
The concert was held on 16 July to a full house at the Opera’s Main Hall. It featured American Colombian mezzosoprano Monica Danilova and Italian Colombian bass Hyalmar Mitrotti, as well as the Moscow-born pianist Sergei Sickov who has contributing regularly to the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia.
The repertoire included arias from pieces by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Rossini and Piaf.
Mittroti has given concerts in France, England, Uruguay, Algeria, Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Colombia.
Danilova, the show-stealing artist, has to her credit 42 roles in lyric dramatic works like Aurora La Beltrana in La Zarzuela “Doña Francisquita”, Aldonza in “El hombre de la Mancha” (2016) and Clarita in “The Bunch of Roses”.
The lively concert ended in a surprise rendition of ‘Habibi Ya Nour el Ein,’ an Egyptian song originally sung by pop star Amr Diab. The audience joyfully applauded.
Colombia’s Ambassador to Cairo, Alfonso Soria Mendoza, addressed the audience, saying: “I take this chance to share a peace message on behalf of our president, Juan Manuel Santos, and the 50 millions of Colombians around the world after signing the peace treaty which has been in the implementation phase successfully and will continue so.
“We treasure the goals of our bilateral relations,” he said. “Our agenda includes teaching Spanish courses, technical operations and agricultural exchange. We are so very proud of the role of our 374 soldiers of the MFO (Multinational Force and Observers) Forces in Sinai who represent the interest of the Colombian people to work together for peace around the world.”
Talking to Watani, Ms Danilova that Colombia had an ever-growing opera movement which she was proud to be part of. As to Mitrotti, he expressed pleasant surprise at the Egyptian opera singers he had the opportunity to meet in Cairo, saying he hadn’t expected Egypt to have such a vibrant opera scene.
Watani International
22 July 2018