Austrian Cultural Forum

1103 Cornishe El-Nile, Garden City, 1st floor, apt 7, next to Shepheard Hotel, Cairo

Sun 2 June, 5-8pm: "Composing Music inspired by Storytelling" a masterclass in music composition and improvisation with renowned Austrian jazz pianist Martin Listabarth. Inspired by encounters with people, places and stories, Listabarth combines narrative storytelling methods with music making. Take this unique opportunity to learn about his strategies and techniques for creative working processes. Whether you are a pianist or a professional in another musical instrument, you are invited to join this exploratory masterclass.
Bring your instrument if you want to share your compositions and techniques with the group and get feedback on it. This masterclass is open to all musicians and instruments, but with a special recommendation for pianists. Listabarth is an Austrian jazz pianist, composer, improviser and bandleader. He studied both jazz piano and classical piano at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. His music is deeply rooted in jazz, but also features very strong classical influences that give Listabarth his own unique musical voice. Listabarth’s music is often described as playful and challenging, accessible yet complex. Already on his well-received solo debut "Short Stories" (2019), he shares his fascination for the idea of storytelling in music with the listeners. This masterclass is open to all musicians and instruments, but with a special recommendation for pianists. (The masterclass is free of charge, but registration is open until Saturday 1 June 2024. The number of available places is limited. Due to waiting lists for our masterclasses, please only register if you can attend. The final selection of the participants shall be announced by Sunday 2 June. If you are playing an instrument, bring your own instrument to the masterclass.

Heliopolis Library

42 Al-Oroba St, off Beirut St, Misr Al-Gedida, Tel 011 42464426

Thurs 31, 5.30pm: A seminar commemorates the birth anniversary of late novelist Gamal El-Ghetany. 

ALEXANDRIA

Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Chatby, Alexandria 21526, Tel (03) 4839999 

BA Conference Centre, Lecture Hall 

Wed 5 June, 3pm (open to the public): "Mario and Aboul-Abbass" seminar features Reem Bassiouni, writer and novelist, and head of the Linguistics Department at the AUC, who will be interviewed by Shaimaa El-Sherif, senior research specialist in the academic research sector at the Library of Alexandria. It will discuss Bassiouni's novel Mario and Aboul-Abbass, which deals with the relationship that brought together the Italian architect Mario Rossi and his creativity in the field of Islamic architecture in Egypt, and the Sufi Aboul-Abbass Al-Morsi, and the relationship that arose between them despite the intervening centuries, and the local and international circumstances and events that occurred during the life of each of them. Born in Alexandria, Bassiouni has won a number of awards, including the State Award for Excellence for her entire work, the Award for Best Translated Work in the United States of America for her novel The Pistachio Seller, and she recently won the Sheikh Zayed Book Award for Literature for the year 2024 for her novel Al-Halawani, The Fatimid Trilogy.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 30 May, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly