The newly released Cairo Symphony Orchestra's programme for September focuses on symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven to be performed on each consecutive Saturday.
Beethoven's series is an initiative by Ahmed El-Saedi, the orchestra's newly appointed principal conductor and artistic director. He held the same position between 1993 and 2003 and over this decade the orchestra reached one of its most significant artistic heights in its more than 50-year-long history.
El-Saedi, who will also conduct the whole series, returns to the orchestra with vibrant plans for its artistic and repertoire development. For the time being only the programming of nine symphonies has been announced.
As follows, on Saturday 6 September, the orchestra will perform Symphonies No. 1 and 5; 13 September will bring Symphonies No. 2 and No. 6 "Pastorale", while the famed "Eroica" (Symphony No. 3) and Symphony No. 4 will be performed on 20 September.
The final Saturday, 27 September, will include full standard orchestral programming as the concert will open with Beethoven's King Stephan (König Stephan) Overture, followed by the composer's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D Major, Op. 61 with soloist Lidia Baich. The concert will close with Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.
The last concert in the Beethoven Symphonies series will take place on 11 October with a performance of Symphony No. 8 and one of the composer's final masterpieces, Symphony No. 9 in D minor "Choral".
The video below shows El-Saedi conducting the Cairo Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (4th movement, Finale) in the 1990s. The performance includes the following soloists: late Ratiba El-Hefny (soprano), Awatef El-Sharkawi (mezzo soprano), Hassan Kamy (tenor) and Reda El-Wakil (bass).
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