Days and Nights of the Heart Tree by Tarik Benouarka Kicks off in Cairo Opera House

A Unique Combination of Arabic Singing Opera with Exceptional Al Nour Wal Amal Orchestra

Days and Nights of the Heart Tree by Tarik Benouarka Kicks off in Cairo Opera House

In a press conference held on Sunday September 13th at Semiramis Inter Continental, Garden City; Franco-Algerian writer/composer TariK Benourka announced that Cairo Opera House will host the world premiere of his ballet opera Days and Nights of the Heart Tree. This grand premiere in Cairo comes right ahead of a planned tour in Paris, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

This original opera was dedicated by the artist and will be played by this orchestra that is unique in the world: El Nour Wal Amal, a classical ensemble of blind Egyptian female musicians. The 80-minute operatic work has been written in the Arabic language and combines classical music, opera singing, poetry and dance.

The artistic platform unites around the orchestra of El Nour Wal Amal, two Egyptian voices: the tenor Ragaa El Din as Nour, the soprano Dalia Fadel as Amal, the famous Egyptian actor Assem Nagaty (Director of the Egyptian National Theatre) in the role of the storyteller, in addition to five contemporary dancers, the Cairo Celebration Choir led by Nayer Nagui, along with Gilbert Désveaux staging, Alain Lagarde movie making and costume design and Adriana Mortelliti choreography.

The artist Tarik Benouarka remarked on his new project, Days and Nights of the Heart Tree saying, "It takes us into a different world through the various kinds of arts it combines, a myth full of hope, a sensitive and universal evocation of the love of life and wealth of the inner self, an intimate companion of every being."

Days and Nights of the Heart Tree highlights the story of two stars escaped from a forgotten world, Nour and Amal, who decide at the same instant to give up their lives as stars to come to embody, through the fruit of the heart tree, to taste, if only for a few days and nights, the beautiful and essential emotions of the beginning and the end of things: the feelings of life.

On this occasion, Engineer Ashraf Halim, Vice-President of Mobinil (part of the France Telecom- Orange Group), stated, "As a part of Mobinil initiative in rehabilitating and employing 100,000 Egyptians, we decided to support El Nour Wal Amal Orchestra because of the excellence of these girls and their determination to defy their impairment; and to encourage them to perform in various countries around the world. We are proud to support this unique artistic work taking place in Egypt, which presages a new start for the orchestra they will impress the world with their competence and proficiency to play various forms of music. Paris will be one of the hosting countries for the show under the auspices of the French Orange Group."

It is noteworthy that Mobinil has a long history of supporting various community activities in collaboration with the associations and institutions that serve different groups with disabilities to train and prepare them for integrating into the community and get jobs.

Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, Chairman and Managing Director of the International Commercial Bank - Egypt (CIB) said, "El Nour Wal Amal orchestra is the pride of every Egyptian. They could successfully impress the world by defeating their impairment using their distinctively unique talents. Challenging their disability is a lesson for all of us in perseverance and determination to achieve our dreams, despite difficulties. The success of this orchestra is the best anyone with such will can break down any barriers."

"It is our duty to encourage those unique talents and commit, as organization and individuals, towards them. It is our honor to sponsor the orchestra and motivate them to achieve more success and glamour," says Ezz Al-Arab
Dr. Mona Zaki, the Founder and CEO of Global Strategic Consultants (GSC) says, "I strongly believe that art is an integral part of civilized community, and supporting art is the support of our humanity and our well-being. El Nour Wal Amal is a unique orchestra clearly represents the power of art conquering blindness through the provision of light and hope to the public and the whole world."

Tarik Benouarka is a Franco-Algerian composer, poet, playwright, pianist and musician since his first musical performance when he was fourteen. Tarik composes classical, contemporary music, film scores and publicity, live performances, institutional events and operas.

El Nour Wal Amal is a charity association that was founded in 1945 to provide education and professional training for blind women. With an objective to integrate those women into the broad society, the association is the first in the Arab world of its kind. The Institute of music was founded within the association in 1961, and to date includes more than 70 students. Throughout the years, the orchestra's tours around the world included Jordan, Kuwait, Japan, Eastern Europe, Germany and many other countries.