Over the past decade, Al Ahram Weekly has featured the Al Nour Wala Amal Orchestra following concerts in Egypt and abroad, profiling many members of this unique ensemble. Part of the Al Nour Wal Amal Association for the Care of Visually Impaired Women in Egypt, since the late 1980s, the orchestra has toured the world, performing in more than 30 countries on five continents, and always mesmerising the audience with music that comes from the heart.

As the years went by, many orchestra members became mothers and even grandmothers: they are Al Nour Wal Amal Music Institute’s first and second generation. But then, the younger cohort began showcasing their skills, paving the way for the launch of a junior orchestra. Trained and conducted by Tamer Fahmy, these talents add new colour to the visually impaired ensemble, infusing it with youthful passion and boundless determination.

Their most recent international appearance was in Oman on 17 October 2024, on the stage of the state-of-the-art Royal Opera House of Musical Arts, a marvellous building, which as its promotional material reveals is the leading arts and culture organisation in the Sultanate of Oman. The evening was a celebration of Omani Women’s Day and also featured the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra (ROSO) Ladies Ensemble and the Moroccan pianist Nour Awadi.

However, before moving onto the evening’s events, it is worth sharing the unique story behind Al Nour Wal Amal’s journey to Oman. More than a year ago, the orchestra was invited to participate in the Omani Women’s Day celebrations scheduled for 19 October 2023. The concert was set to feature the Lebanese star Majida El Roumi for the second half of the evening. After months of preparation, Al Nour Wal Amal travelled to Muscat for final rehearsals. It was during those days that many Arab countries began cancelling cultural activities in response to Israel’s war on Gaza. Equally, two days before the concert, the Sultanate of Oman called off the Omani Women’s Day celebrations.

Although Al Nour Wal Amal did not perform in Muscat in 2023, the ensemble experienced the beauty of the city and its culture, looking forward to returning in 2024 to repeat the experience. On both occasions, the celebrations were to feature Lebanese singer Majida El Roumi. This year, however, she cancelled her performance due to the war in her home country.

In those unusual circumstances, the musicians of Al Nour Wal Amal faced one more challenge: they had to go on stage without their “mother,” Amal Fikry, in attendance. The late president of the Al Nour Wal Amal Music Institute, whose lifelong dedication to blind and visually impaired musicians was immeasurable, passed away in March 2024. From the first concert she arranged for the orchestra in the 1960s to their inaugural international trip to Vienna in 1988, Fikry stood by the girls every step of the way.

Not only was she a strong believer in the ensemble’s values, she also supported the orchestra’s members on a personal level. With each rehearsal, the musicians grew increasingly inspired to deliver a concert that would make Fikry even more proud. In Oman, the Egyptian orchestra brought together a large number of junior musicians, including the youngest, a nine-year-old violin prodigy, supported by selected performers in their 30s and older. For many young musicians this was their first international trip. When the curtain opened, the musicians were greeted with a full hall, and an especially large number of ladies, each holding a red rose given to them as they entered the opera for this special occasion.

The ROSO Ladies Ensemble opened the evening with Handel’s Minuet from Opera Berenice, before moving to Raymond Lefèvre’s La Soupe Aux Choux, and Gamal Salama’s Qal Gani Baad Yomain featuring singer Balqees Bint Saleh Bin Omar Al Shabibi. The two latter compositions were arranged by Hamdan bin Said Al Shuaili, an Omani musician, composer and conductor, for ROSO.

ROSO was established in 1985 (in accordance with the royal directives of His Majesty the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said) with the aim of training and providing a performance platform for Omani musicians. With Omani women being part of the orchestra since 1989, the ensemble’s busy schedule includes concerts in Muscat, the Arab region, and on international stages, where they perform Western classical music, works by Arab composers, and compositions that showcase Omani musical traditions.

In a country where Western music is not a daily staple, attending a ROSO concert may raise a few eyebrows. However, just one concert is enough to reveal the orchestra’s creative depth and the dedication of its members to their art.

During the evening, ROSO Ladies allowed the melodic lines of Handel’s Minuet to shine by infusing the composition with an extra dose of elegance, emanating from their instruments.They allowed us to enjoy Lefèvre’s lightheartedness and conveyed Gamal Salama’s evocative lyricism, emphasised by the soloist. In a relatively short time, the ROSO Ladies filled the hall with a musical purity worthy of the composers they performed. Additionally, their outfits, representing Omani traditions, added to the visual beauty of the event.

The members of the ROSO Ladies Ensemble continued adding their share of magic to Al Nour Wal Amal’s segment of the concert, joining the Egyptian musicians in a few works. Al Nour Wal Amal’s share of the evening presented a melange of Western classical works topped with an Arab composer.

Strauss’s Schnell Polka introduced the festive atmosphere, before the orchestra made a graceful whimsy of Shostakovitch’s Jazz Suite no. 2 / Waltz No. 2. This paved the way to Mohamed Abdel Wahab’s Duaa Al Sharq (Prayer of the East), a composition that featured the solo singer Dina Thabet (also a trumpet player in the orchestra).

It is clear that Thabet is one of the most remarkable talents of Al Nour Wal Amal. At ease despite the composition’s challenges, she skillfully navigated the piece’s emotionally charged melodic richness, infusing the work with countless embellishments, allowing her to connect with listeners on a profound level.

The orchestra then presented the first movement (Allegro) from Mozart’s piano concerto No. 12 in A major, featuring a multi-award-winning Morocco-born, France-educated Nour Ayadi. Born in 1999, the young pianist has had her share of international appearances yet performing at the Royal Opera House of Musical Arts has definitely added an important point to her already impressive CV. Following Mozart, she took a moment to showcase her technical mastery in the intricacies of Liszt’s work.

As the concert continued, Al Nour Wal Amal performed Saint-Saëns’s Dance Macabre, Op 40, and gave a strong ending with the audience-favourite Offenbach’s Cancan from Orpheus in the Underworld. The work’s emphatic cadence was swiftly followed by huge applause.

The road to this concert was filled with unusual twists and turns. But ultimately the evening proved successful for both the Al Nour Wal Amal Orchestra and the ROSO Ladies Ensemble.

For Al Nour Wal Amal, credit goes to all the musicians, as well as the Music Institute’s management, staff and board members, including the new president, Mona Zaki. Having been involved with the Al Nour Wal Amal Association for many years, she understands the importance of addressing not only the basic educational needs of visually impaired women but also their broader aspirations. 

Credit also goes to Tamer Fahmy, a musician, academic, and bassoonist at the Cairo Opera Orchestra who spent many years working with visually impaired musicians and is now in charge of the Al Nour Wal Amal junior orchestra. As the ensemble’s main educator, music director, and conductor, over the past few years he has played a crucial role in advancing the young orchestra’s understanding of music and performance, clearly leading them into a new musical era.

Throughout its history, the Al Nour Wal Amal Orchestra has performed in many renowned halls, and the Royal Opera House of Musical Arts is certainly among the most prestigious stages that have hosted these Egyptian musicians. With its breathtaking architectural design reflecting Omani heritage, the opera house opened its doors in 2011 and has established itself as a premier venue for a diverse array of performances, including opera, ballet, orchestral concerts, and traditional music.

Plácido Domingo, Anna Netrebko, Renée Fleming, Lang Lang, Youssou N’Dour, the Vienna State Opera, the London Symphony, Elissa, Kadim Al Sahir, Marcel Khalife, Assi El Hallani, Lotfi Bouchnak, are just a few of the hundreds of names from around the world that performed in Muscat. The opera offers the best music, opera and theatre experiences  and is strongly involved in its educational and outreach activities.

Taking this into account, it is a great honour for Al Nour Wal Amal to have its name engraved in the Oman Royal Opera’s almanacks. It is also a highly inspiring experience for Muscat’s audiences to become acquainted with Egypt’s visually impaired female musicians, the world’s only exclusively female orchestra of its kind.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 7 November, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly