“Coming to Carnegie Hall in New York City has been on my bucket list for years. I’ve never had the opportunity to attend a concert there and never thought in my wildest dreams that the reason I get to enter this hall would be because I’m actually performing there,” Fatma Said wrote on her Facebook page.
The concert that took place on 4 April featured Said performing alongside celebrated Spanish guitarist Rafael Aguirre.
The programme included Spanish and Middle Eastern songs.
The Spanish components included compositions by Manuel de Falla, Joaquín Rodrigo, Lorenzo Palomo, José Serrano, Francisco Tárrega, Fernando Obradors and four songs from Federico Garcia Lorca’s Canciones españolas antiguas.
The Egyptian accent was underlined with works by one of Sherif Mohie El-Din’s early vocal works Could The River Flow For Ever? (from his ‘Three Poems by Amal Donqul’) and Gamal Abdel-Rahim’s Ana Bent El-Sultan (I Am the Sultan’s Daughter).
Said also performed the American-Lebanese composer Najib Hankash’s Aatini El Nay Wa Ghanni (Give Me the Nay and Sing), based on a poem by Gibran Khalil.
Some of the compositions performed by Said – including I Am the Sultan’s Daughter and Give Me the Nay and Sing – come from her award-winning album El-Nour (The Light). Released on Warner Classics and featuring pianist Malcolm Martineau, the album brought Said the BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award for a debut album as well as the ‘Newcomer of the Year’ award.
The concert’s encore presented American composer Harold Arlen’s Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz (arranged by Rafael Aguirre).
Said’s performance at the Carnegie hall is among the most important achievements in her career.
Since it opened in 1891, Carnegie Hall has presented artists showcasing the highest musical excellence.
Today the hall is considered one of the most prestigious venues for performers worldwide.
Said is one of Egypt’s brightest stars in classical music, with a portfolio that includes significant accomplishments.
Fatma Said was the first Egyptian singer to be accepted to La Scala Academy in Milan and went on to perform there in Mozart’s Magic Flute.
Soon after completing her education at La Scala, she was also one of six musicians selected by BBC Radio 3 to take part in its New Generation Artist Scheme from 2016 to 2018.
Said is also an ambassador for Opera for Peace and is supported by the stART academy of Bayer Kultur.
Most recently Said was offered the Rafik Hariri Award for Artistic Excellence during a special ceremony held at the Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts, Washington DC (February 2023).
In her home country, Said’s most recent appearance was in December 2022, at the new Grand Egyptian Museum, accompanied by the United Philharmonic Orchestra.
Said was the first female singer to perform at the museum.
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