Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays 2012! Support Nobel Women to End Rape in Conflict Zones + Enjoy Aida Opera in Egypt!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays 2012 

to all my friends around the

World!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

A donation was made on your behalf

to help Victims of Rape as a Weapon of

Conflict

in Africa!

Please support the Nobel Women’s

Initiatives in raising awareness about this

important issue in the world!

♥♥♥♥♥

Cecilia

Message from Cecilia: As I am writing this my Chinese-Egyptian fusion art exhibition with artist Samia Kamel, is opening at 7pm  for the Christmas Show 2012 at the Cairo Opera House Art Gallery. I am honoured to be a part of this and thank Samia Kamel for her invitations and El Hanager for providing the venue for this wonderful occassion of Art, Culture and Creative free Speech!

I am so honoured to be a part of this… the fact that Verdi’s Aida opera premiered there for their Christmas 24th Dec 1871 has not escaped me and words cannot describe my appreciation and thanks to all those involved in this Incredible journey. I know the parrallel goes even further, Verdi’s show was delayed due to the Franco-Prussian war…and our show was delayed because of the Jasmine Revolution.History has a way of repeating…Happy Holidays!

Thank you Cairo for supporting our exhibition:

“Reflections between the Past and the Present”

Thank you for the opportunity for women like Samia and I

to express our Creative voices in 2012!!!!

Once upon a time, Africa was not just the cradle of civilisation, it was also a place of Culture and Creativity. The first places to have women rulers, a place where Science and Faith endured….a place whose activities were immortalised in many of the European Arts.

Aïda was first performed at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo on 24 December 1871, conducted by Giovanni Bottesini. Isma’il Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, commissioned Verdi to write the opera for performance in January 1871, paying him 150,000 francs, but the premiere was delayed because of the Franco-Prussian War. Metastasio’s libretto Nitteti (1756) was a major source of the plot.Contrary to popular belief, the opera was not written to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, nor that of the Khedivial Opera House (which opened with Verdi’s Rigoletto) in the same year.

Verdi originally chose not to write an overture for the opera, but merely a brief orchestral prelude. He then composed an overture of the “potpourri” variety to replace the original prelude. However, in the end he decided not to have the overture performed because of its—his own words—”pretentious insipidity”. This overture, not normally used today, was given a rare broadcast performance by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra on 30 March 1940, but was never commercially issued.

Aida met with great acclaim when it finally opened in Cairo on 24 December 1871. The costumes and accessories for the premiere were designed by Auguste Mariette, and he oversaw the design and construction of the sets, which were created in Paris by the Opéra’s scene painters Auguste Rubé and Philippe Chaperon (Acts 1 and 4) and Edouard Despléchin and Jean-Baptiste Lavastre (Acts 2 and 3), and shipped to Cairo.

Although Verdi did not attend the premiere in Cairo, he was most dissatisfied with the fact that the audience consisted of invited dignitaries, politicians and critics, but no members of the general public. He therefore considered the Italian (and European) premiere, held at La Scala, Milan on 8 February 1872, and in which he was heavily involved at every stage, to be its real premiere.

Verdi had also written the role of Aida for the voice of Teresa Stolz, who sang it for the first time at the Milan premiere. Verdi had asked her fiancé, Angelo Mariani, to conduct the Cairo premiere, but he declined, so Giovanni Bottesini filled the gap. The Milan Amneris, Maria Waldmann, was his favourite in the role and she repeated it a number of times at his request.
Aida was received with great enthusiasm at its Milan premiere. The opera was soon mounted at major opera houses throughout Italy, including the Teatro Regio di Parma (20 April 1872), the Teatro di San Carlo (30 March 1873), La Fenice (11 June 1873), the Teatro Regio di Torino (26 December 1874), the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (30 September 1877, with Giuseppina Pasqua as Amneris and Franco Novara as the King), and the Teatro Costanzi (8 October 1881, with Theresia Singer as Aida and Giulia Novelli as Amneris) among others.

6 comments on “Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays 2012! Support Nobel Women to End Rape in Conflict Zones + Enjoy Aida Opera in Egypt!”

1. CROATIAN CENTER of RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES

   December 25, 2012

   

   Many Blessings to you and may God Bless you and your friends and family and share his glory and Grace forever.

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   Reply
   • ceciliawyu

     December 25, 2012

     

     Merry Christmas and Happy new Year! 🙂

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     Reply
     • Rajendra Giri

       December 26, 2012

       

       Dear Cecilia

       Many thanks for the greetings and I wish you very success, prosperity and happiness in life.

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     • ceciliawyu

       December 26, 2012

       

       Namaste Rajendra ji…Happy Holidays! 🙂

       LikeLike

2. Pingback: [WATCH]: Paris Fashion Houses of 1910 | MO Designer Goods

   • ceciliawyu

     December 25, 2012

     

     Hey Nice! Thanks for the link-up. I love this video of Paris design house in your website! Merry Christmas 2012!
     

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     Reply

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