Aida Casting
at the Pyramids 2001

 

 

Dr. Abdel Moneim Kamel - Director An Egyptian artist, he studied ballet in Egypt and the Soviet Union.  In the beginning, he was well known as a distinguished ballet dancer, later he started choreographing a number of performances such as El Somoud, Carmen Suite, Osiris and El Nile with Erminia Kamel as well as Abu Simbel with a Japanese Choreographer.  It is worth mentioning that his name was cited in the Oxford Ballet Dictionary as a choreographer. Currently, he is the Artistic Director of the Cairo Opera Ballet Company and Artistic Director of music sector. He directed number of ballet performances. Abd El Moneim Kamel was awarded a number of international prizes in addition to State awards.
Wilhelmenia Fernandez - Aida Ms Fernandez began her singing studies in philadelphia and continued at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. She began her career in opera at Huston (Texas) as Bess in the Opera Porgy and Bess by Gershwin.   Following a spectacular tournee through America and Europe she made her debut at the Grand Opera Paris as Musetta in "La Boheme". Since then she has divided her activities between Europe and America.  She is also frequently engaged at important theaters in the opera world like the New York City Centre, the Opera of Boston, the Michigan Opera Company, the Opera Toulouse, the Opera du Rhine Strasbourg, the Opera de Wallonie Luttich, Teatro San Carlos Lisbon, the Opera North Leeds, and the Deutsche Opera Berlin. Her repertoire comprises Marguerite in "Faust" by Gounod, Leonore in "Trovatore", the Comtess in "La Nozze di Figaro" by Mozart, Luisa Miller and of course Aida.    She sang the Aida in luxor for two years, and has also been an international success as an actress in the film "Diva".
Nicola Martinucci - Radames With his debut in Trovatore Sig. Martinucci began his brilliant career which has brought him to the biggest opera theaters in the world. These include Teatro La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Arena di Verona, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, the Teatro Dell' Opera di Roma, the Teatro Comunale di Firenze, the Staatsoper Vienna, the Opernhaus Zurich, the Deutsche Opera Berlin and the San Francisco Opera.  Few tenors can equal his interpretation of the opera Aida, Turandot, Andrea Chenier, Tosca, Pagliacci, Norma, Fancciulla Del West, Manon Lescaut, Madama Butterfly, Trovatore, I Lombardi, Francesca da Rimini, Gioconda, Lorely, and lris.   He also starred as Radames in the tournee of the Teatro Comunale di Firenze in China.
Antonio Salvadori - Amonasro Antonio Salvadori started vocal studies at a very young age. It was due to his beautiful voice that he won many singing competitions that opened the possibility to make his debut in important roles including I Pagliacci by Leoncavallo, Barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini, Ballo in Maschera by G.Verdi at the famous Arena Sferisterio di Macerata. His successful career has brought him to world renown theaters including La Scala di Milano, the Arena di Verona, the Staatsoper Wien, the Opera de Paris, the Metropolitan Opera New York, the Hamurgische Staatsoper Tokyo, Teatro Massimo di Palermo.
He has worked with famous conductors (Carlos Kleiber, Riccardo Muti, Giuseppe Patane, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Nello Santi, Riccardo Chailly, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Bruno Bartoletti and Lorin Maazel) and celebrated triumphs in Luisa Miller, Andrea Chenier, Pagliacci, Rigoletto, Roberto Devereux, Carmen, Cavalleria Rusticana, Macbeth, Falstaff, Otello and specially as Amonasro in Aida. Following the success in the role in Luxor he will present this role 2001 at the pyramids.
Alberto Mastromarino - Amonasro Following his successful debut in 1987 as Amonasro in Aida he was immediately engaged in the Opera in Rome and has interpreted important roles in (La Traviata, Simon Boccanegra, Trovatore, Macbeth, Rigoletto, Nabucco, Don Carlo and Ballo in Maschera),Staatsoper Vienna, Cagliari (Cavalleria Rusticana), Grand Theatre di Dijon (Nabucco), Livorno (Tosca). He also took part in the RAI 2 television production of the Madame Butterfly during the Macerata Festival.
His next engagements will be the Cavalleria Rusticana in Verona, Pagliacci in Bologna, Rigoletto in Turin, Aida in Egypt and again Ballo in Maschera in Berlin.
Peter Daaliysky - King Born in Bulgaria he studied with Ghena Dimitrova and Nicola Ghiuselev in Sofia, at the Academy of Culture and Music in Rome, with Boris Christoff and Katia Ricciarelli, and at the Hochschule fur Musik und daratellende Kunst in Vienna with Walter Berry. He was the winner of the Katia Ricciarelli-Competition in 1989, the Voci Verdiane Competition in 1989, the Belvedere Competition in 1989 and the George London Competition.
After his debut in the National Opera in Sofia he started his carrier in Europe in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Opera Bergen (Grieg Hall), the Verdianeum Roncole, the Opera Bloemfontien (South Africa) and other theatres in Germany and Italy. He sang the role of Figaro in the CD-recording of Nozza di Figaro and the bass-part in the recording of Mozart's C-major Mass KV 114.
Antonella Dalla Pozza - Ameris After her studies at the Conservatory in Vicenza with Prof. Righetti, she perfected her singing technique with Shirley Verret, Rodolfo Celletti and Sergio Bertocchi.  Following her successful debut in the Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza she was engaged in the Arena Sferisterio as Macerata in Carmen and took part as Ulrica in the Ballo in Maschera production of Rai in Milan.  After some engagements in the theatres of Trieste, Treviso, and Livorno she made her debut in the Arena di Verona as Madalena in Rigoletto.  At the opening of the Teatro Massimo di Palermo she sang the Santuzza in "La Cavalleria Rusticana" and the Azucena in "ll Trovatore".
Ignacio Encinas - Tenor Sig. Encinas was born In Spain.  After winning various competitions he began his career in San Carlo Theatre in Lisbon, as Alfredo in "La Traviata".  He later sang at the Festival de la Porticad de Santander in "La Favorita" and "ll Trovatore", obtaining such a success that the two peras were held again in Valladolid at Teatro Calderon.  He then sang "Rigoletto"in Malaga and Madrid (la Zarzuela), "Cavalleria Rusticana" in Valencia "Nabucco" in Sabadell and again "La Traviata" in a tour in northern Spain. He also sang the principal roles in " Macbeth" Ernani", "Boheme" ,"Rigoletto", "Trovatore","Traviata", "Adriana Lecouvreur" "Tosca ", "ll Pirata" and "l Puritani" in the main European Opera Houses (Paris, Marseilles, Dijon,Toulouse, Lieges, Hamburg, Copenhagen, and Toulon.  In Italy he made his debut in Mantova.   He also starred as Pinkerton in "Madama Butterfly", and made an appearance in all the main Opera Houses  (Rome, Trieste, Como, Ascoli,  Venice). His most recent tour has been to Cremona, Bergamo and Brescia with La Fenice Theatre in the Opera Houses of the region , before going to Naples for "Cavalleria Rusticana". He also sang Turiddu in a new production in Livorno of "Cavalleria Rusticana", "Trovatore" in Vienna and "Tosca"in Berlin and Toulon.  Later, he sang in a new production of "Macbeth" in Naples, and "La Gioconda" in Genoa. Among his next engagements are "Tosca" in Trieste "Luisa Miller", "Norma" at Covent Garden, and "Turandot" in Liege.
Irene Cerboncini - Soprano Irene Cerboncini is considered to be the most important and promising young talent in the lyric art in Italy at the moment. She finished her studies at the Accademia Musicale Teresiana Di Arenzano in Genova and at the Scuola di Belcanto Luciano Saldari. During her Studies she started to sing in important theaters in Europe  - Tosca (G.Puccini) in Germany, in the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and France.  She has performed at the Stabat Mater of Quirino Gasparini in the Opera Carlo Felice di Genova.
She was very successful as Leonora in Trovatore by G. Verdi in the High Austrian open arena theatre in Germany, Covent Garden Opera in London and in Paris, and also in Turandot by Puccini at the festival in Rochester and in the Holland Park Festival in London. One of the biggest successes in her young career was Aida in Bordeaux, Strasbourg, in the Elisabeth Hall in London and in the Scottish Opera Glasgow. She will be seen in London in the opera La Fenice di Venezia, as Aida in the Opera Comunale di Bologna, as Giovanna d'Arco in the Opera Calo Felico di Genova, La Masnadieri in the Teatro Massimo di Palermo, as Nedda in Pagliacci in the Opera Regio di Torino.  And she will sing Aida in the Metropolitan Opera, New York.
Aldo Magnato - Reptiteur Born in Italy, he studied the piano, the organ, composition,  and choral and orchestral conducting. He worked at numerous Italian theatres in Palermo, Trapani, Mantova, Bologna, Cagliari, Venece, etc. He also worked as prompter, stage musical director, and choir master for the Cairo Opera Company.
Giulino Carella - Conductor General Musical Director of Fondazione of the Arena di Verona, President of Ente Solisti Veneti, Giuliano Carella was born in Milan 1956. After obtaining a music diploma of composition from the conservatory of Padova and the Academia Chigiana di Siena he continued his studies in opera conducting special stadium at the Conservatories of Mantua, Brescia and Verona. Following activities in conducting symphonies and chamber music he made his opera debut in France in 1986. Due to his impressive style he conducts in many important opera theatres in the world like the Bayerische Staatsoper Munchen, Hamburgischi Staatsoper, Opera Comique de Paris, Opera Marseille, Covent Garden Opera London, Teatron Real Madrid, Opera Toulouse, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, the Teatro Comunale di Caliagri, the Teatro Bellini di Catania, the Rossini Festival di Pesaro, the Festival di Martina Franca, the Opera Amsterdam. During the coming season he will return to the Metropolitan Opera New York and the Scala di Milano For 3 years he was artistic Director of the Festival Pucciniano in Torre del Lago the town of Puccini, and is now General Music Director of the Fondazione dell'Arena di Verona and President of the Ente Solisti Veneti. CD - Registration: Ernani by Giuseppe Verdi, ll Giuramento by Saverio Mercadante, La Sonnambula by Vinzenco Bellini, L'Ultimo Giorno di Pompei by Giovanni Pacini and three single CDs with the English Chamber Orchestra, Belcanto e Les Bijoux with Sumi Joe, Amore per Rossini with Jennifer Larmore. In the coming months he will be releasing the CD of the opera Falstaff by Giuseppe Verdi with Ruggero Raimondo as the protagonist.