Cairo Symphony Orchestra

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Cairo Symphony Orchestra
Orchestra
Native nameأوركسترا القاهرة السيمفونى
Founded1959 (1959)
LocationCairo, Egypt
Concert hall
Cairo Opera House
Music director
Ahmed El Saedi

The Cairo Symphony Orchestra, (Arabic: اوركسترا القاهرة السيمفونى; Orkestra el-Qāhera el-Semfōni), is an orchestra based in Cairo, Egypt.[1][2] Founded in 1959 by its first music director and conductor, Franz Litschauer. The symphony's current principal conductor is Ahmed El Saedi.[3][4]

History

The Orchestra was founded in 1959 under its first music director and conductor, Franz Litschauer, and from mid-1959 to 1963 it was conducted by the Yugoslavian Serbs Gika Zdravkovitch (1959–1960) and Dushan Miladinovitch (1960–1963) (Serbian: Живојин Здравковић, Živojin Zdravković; Душан Миладиновић, Dušan Miladinović). Two Egyptian conductors, Ahmed Ebeid and Youssef Elsisi, succeeded Litschauer as conductors of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra.

Guest conductors and soloists

Many international guest conductors such as Charles Munch, Yehudi Menuhin, Alexander Frey, Patrick Fournillier, Carlo Zecchi, Otakar Trhlik, Ole Schmidt, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Janos Kukla, Alain Pâris, Felix Carrasco, Daniel Barenboim, Nayden Todorov, Sergio Cárdenas, Christophe Mueller, Steven Lloyd, Andreas Spörri, Marcello Mottadelli, Jiří Petrdlík, Nicola Marasco and Jacopo Sipari have led, or have been associated with, the Cairo Symphony Orchestra and Cairo-based symphonic activity.[5][6][7][8][9][10] In April 2009, Israeli-Argentinean conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim played Beethoven's piano sonata no. 8, known as the Pathétique, and conducted the Cairo Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.[11]

Among the soloists who have performed with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra are Rudolf Buchbinder, Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Jörg Demus, Ramzi Yassa, André Navarra, Mstislav Rostropovich, Viktoria Postnikova, Stefan Vladar, Christian Altenburger, Cristina Ortiz, Anastasia Chebotareva, Plácido Domingo, Ghada Shaker, Amani Mounir, Mona Rafla, Amr Medhat, Khaled Samir, Imam Moustafa, Jolie Faizy, Reda El Wakil and others.[5][6][7][9][10]

References

  1. "Cairo Symphony Orchestra | Onuart Foundation". Retrieved 2025-12-01.
  2. "Cairo Symphony Orchestra at Cairo Opera House – Cairo 360 Guide to Cairo, Egypt". www.cairo360.com. Retrieved 2025-12-01.
  3. "Cairo Symphony Orchestra Principal Conductor". Archived from the original on 2016-09-11. Retrieved 2016-09-01.
  4. "Opera Egypt | Cairo Symphony Orchestra". www.cairoopera.org. Retrieved 2025-12-01.
  5. "Cairo Symphony Orchestra". Cairo Opera House. Retrieved 17 May 2026.
  6. "Cairo Symphony Orchestra". Onuart Foundation. Retrieved 17 May 2026.
  7. "Cairo Symphony Orchestra & Ahmed El Saedi". Pierre Boulez Saal. Retrieved 17 May 2026.
  8. "Najden Todorow". Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. Retrieved 17 May 2026.
  9. "Cairo Symphony Orchestra Combines Between Musica Instrumentals & Musica Vocalis". Cairo Opera House. 21 September 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2026.
  10. "Jacopo Sipari dirigerà il Requiem di Verdi al Cairo: ecco quando". Abruzzo News (in Italian). 15 October 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2026.
  11. "BBC News: Barenboim gets ovation in Cairo". BBC News. 2009-04-17. Retrieved 2010-04-28.

See also