Al Nour Wal Amal Chamber Orchestra performs in Rome (Photos: Ati Metwaly)
Led by maestro Tamer Fahmy, its educator and artistic director, the orchestra performed at the Egyptian Academy of Rome on 23 January, followed by a concert at the Nuovo Teatro Ateneo of the Sapienza University of Rome on 25 January.
In both concerts, the orchestra played pieces from the Western classical music repertoire alongside a few Arabic compositions and works featuring the Greek soprano Anastasia Zannis. The renowned singer is not a stranger to the orchestra, as she took the stage with them in one of their concerts at the Cairo Opera House a few years ago.
Attended by the Egyptian Ambassador to Italy Bassam Rady, among other officials, the evening at the Egyptian Academy of Rome celebrated its 95th anniversary. The Egyptian Academy in Rome was established in 1929. Initially located near the Colosseum, it relocated to its current site in Valle Giulia, within the Villa Borghese grounds, alongside other major foreign academies, with those of Romania and Belgium just a few metres away.
The celebratory evening also included the opening of an art exhibition by Egyptian artist Ahmed El-Badawy and musical performances by Italian artists with special needs from the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome.
The Chamber Orchestra is a unique group of visually impaired and completely blind women musicians. It operates under the Al Nour Wal Amal Association, an institution that educates blind girls and women and helps them integrate into society.
In 1960, the association founded the Music Institute, which taught music to musically gifted girls. This eventually led to the formation of the Chamber Orchestra (1970s), which gave numerous performances nationwide before presenting its first international concert in Vienna, Austria, in 1988.
Ever since, the orchestra has toured the world, performing in almost 40 countries across five continents, where it has been called “a human miracle” and “a fourth pyramid of Giza.” As the years passed, the second orchestra began emerging — Al Nour Wal Amal Junior Chamber Orchestra — consisting of the youngest generation of musicians.
This younger orchestra performed in Italy, a trip that came just a few months after their concert at the Royal Opera House of Musical Arts in Muscat, Oman (October 2024).
In Italy, the junior orchestra showcased a large plethora of talents spanning more than one generation: from the youngest violinist, Sondos (who celebrated her 10th birthday on the concert’s day), older children and youth, to a couple of well-experienced musicians from the older chamber orchestra supporting the young ensemble.
Both concerts were very well received by the audience, applauding the orchestra after each piece performed. By the end of the first event, Dr Rania Yehia, director of the Egyptian Academy in Rome, offered certificates of recognition to every member of the orchestra and special honorary plaques to the institute’s management and conductor, Tamer Fahmy.
Filled with passion for music, the junior orchestra is yet to explore many new musical opportunities, following the example set by the now-senior Al Nour Wal Amal Chamber Orchestra. The latter is preparing for their grand concert at the Cairo Opera House's small hall this Thursday (6 February). Conducted by Mahmoud Bayoumi, the orchestra will feature its very own flute soloists: Rasha Ibrahim and Fatima Fouad.
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