Winds in the void
After the spectacular opening of the “Swiss Tales” musical programme with Piano Seven at the Cairo Opera House on 13 January, the Swiss Embassy in Cairo last week presented Heinz Spoerli’s world famous Zürcher Ballet in In den Winden im Nichts (Winds in the Void). Based on Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Cello Suites”, Winds in the Void is a three-part abstract ballet comprising 18 interlinked, fleeting dances—each lasting from two to six minutes. Like most music-driven ballets, it is pure dance without narration. Each section of music brings its intrinsic colour to the stage: ruby-red, emerald-green, and deep-blue respectively, corresponding to colours of the dancers’ costumes: silver-trimmed elegant leotards. A giant illuminated circle, adorned with vapours, is the only element of décor creating a striking visual effect and providing a dramatic background to the imagery of the dance onstage. The lighting, designed by Martin Gebhardt, creates a stunning dichotomy of the backdrop and floor with contrasting illumination. Jens Peter Maintz, cellist with the Zurich Opera House, delivered an expert reading of the Bach score, providing a beautiful live accompaniment to the dance. Directed by world-famous Chief Choreographer Heinz Spoerli, the Zürcher Ballet has become one of the most renowned and respected ballet companies in Europe, and tours numerous countries around the globe, acclaimed by audiences and critics alike. Spoerli was born in Basel, Switzerland, where he spent 17 years developing the ensemble of his hometown into one of the leading classical ballet companies in Europe. After five years at the German Opera on the Rhine in Düsseldorf, the city of Zurich offered him the opportunity to take over the most important Swiss ballet in 1996, where he since then consolidated his reputation as one of the leading choreographers of the world.
The performances are part of the programme “Swiss Tales 2008” promoted by the Embassy of Switzerland in honour of the 20th anniversary of the Cairo Opera House.
Aegean passion
Also in honour of the 20th anniversary of the Cairo Opera House, and to mark St Valentine’s Day as well, the Street Orchestra from Greece last Thursday presented Sounds of Passion from the Aegean Sea. The show included the best of Greek modern songs brought vividly to life with the remarkable performances and mellow voices of Elly Paspala and Yota Nega. Established by the prominent musicians Evanthia Rempoutsika and Panayotis Kalantzopoulos, the Street Orchestra is famous for presenting modern Greek compositions inspired by time-honoured folk melodies and contemporary music such as Theodorakis’.
The king
The Romanian embassy in Cairo was obviously not to be outdone in the Cairo Opera House’s 20 anniversary celebrations. Earlier this month it organised two concerts, one in Cairo and another at Sayed Darwish Theatre in Alexandria—the Alexandria Opera House—for the renowned pan flute player Zamphir who played with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ovidiu Balan. Zamphir, counted among the 20th century’s most famous composers for pan flute, played to a full house of an appreciative audience. He began his career some 50 years ago and has ever since toured the world with his flute and his unique musical style. In the 1970s and 80s he played religious music in different churches and cathedrals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He also gives performances of gypsy, folkloric and classical compositions by Verdi, Puccini and Mozart.
Puppets galore
The second annual folk puppet forum will begin next Wednesday and will run for six days at the magnificent medieval Islamic house of Beit al-Seheimi in Fatimid Cairo, organised by the Cultural Development Fund. This year the forum hosts a group of young artists who manufacture puppets, and others who direct puppet shows. It starts with the inauguration of the “Bride and groom puppets” exhibition which includes more than 150 different puppets related to Egyptian folklore in the vein of Punch and Judy shows and shadow play. They are the works of Zeinab al-Sharqawy, Mahitab Abdullah, Nour Samir, Islam Aly, Manar Nashed, Samah Emad. Muhammad Said and Aisha Muhammad.
The forum activities moreover include five performances. The first, composed and directed by Nabil Bahgat and with poems by Sayed Lotfy, is The Flight of Prince Wessal, with a moral that stresses that enemies are not only individuals or factors that come from outside, but also—and worse—are at home. And collective apathy poses the real danger.
The second is the folk epic Ali al-Zeibaq. It was performed for 121 successive nights in the US where it attracted some 40,000 spectators. It focuses on the concept of resistance which must, in the end, achieve victory.
Aragoz (Punch) dot com, the third puppet show, was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes. The performance tries to reveal the hypocrisy in international politics.
A seminar will be held on the threatened art of folk puppets, while a workshop will run throughout the six days of the seminar to teach anyone interested in puppets how to manufacture and use them.
