Cairo Opera House

The Cairo Opera House was opened in 1869 in celebrationof the opening of the Suez Canal. Old Opera House Mariette Pacha and the Khedive Ismail had jointly written opera Aida to be performed for the inauguration of the Opera House.However,it was in fact never performed for the occasion because its director Verdi who was afraid of ships and seas asked for a bridge to be built between Rome and Cairo. As a result, Rigoletto was performed instead.
Aida has since been the most performed Opera in the world.
The old Cairo Opera House was a splendid breathtaking piece of art,and at the time it was the first and only Opera House in the Middle East and Arab World. It was however devoured by flames in 1971.
On October 10th 1988,the new Opera House was inaugurated on the Gezira Island amidst other cultural centers such as: the Museum of Egyptian Modern Arts,the Nile Hall Gallery,the Plastic Artists Association and EL Hanager theatre.
The Cairo Opera House has been equipped with the most recent and state of the art technical and stage facilities. Performances of other cultures of the world are regularly hosted,in addition to performances of companies affiliated with the National Cultural Center that include: the Cairo Symphony Orchestra,the Cairo Ballet Company,the Cairo Opera Choir,the Arabic Music Ensemble and the Cairo Opera Children's Choir.

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