| David Ensemble |
|
David Ensemble
was established in 1975 and was composed of four artists;
George Kyrillos, the conductor of the ensemble, chanter and
lute player, Nagi Fayek a pianist, Edward Hanna a violinist
and Moris Aziz a guitarist. They specialized in performing
“Coptic Hymns” which are about 2000 years old and have
survived the past centuries and reached us by handing them
over from generation to generation through ‘oral tradition’. This hymnal
tradition is considered the natural continuation of the
Pharaonic hymns, and the existence of which of which due to
its preservation by the Coptic Orthodox Church is considered
to be a miracle that astonished the entire world. The
ensemble is also distinguished for presenting the psalms
which were written and composed by David the Prophet about
5000 years ago, the music of which had perished and nothing
has remained but its meaningful words which fathom the soul
and scare the spiritual hosts of wickedness. The ensemble
tried to put the music for these psalms in a deep spiritual
and scientific way, which made a lot of people feel that
these tunes might be those that have been composed by David
the Prophet himself. |
| The Performances |
|
David Ensemble
has performed several times all over Egypt, including a
participation in the Christmas 2000 celebration at the Cairo
Opera House, a performance at the American University in
Cairo (AUC) and at both the French and Italian Cultural
Centres. In
addition, they participated in a number of international
festivals abroad such as the two famous performances that
were organized by the Egyptian Centre for culture and arts
‘Al-Yasmina’ at the ‘Festival of Sacred Arts’ that was held
in Paris, France in December 1995 and ‘Orient Festival’ in
Stockholm, Sweden in June 1997.
The ensemble
also performed ‘Golgotha’ hymn, which has pharoanic roots
that date back five thousand years, accompanied by the
Sophia Philharmonic Orchestra and the choir of the district
of Venice in two great performances at the Marceille Opera
House and the Basilic Cathedral in Saint-Denis in Paris in
1998. There , Monica George – twelve years old and the
youngest member of the ensemble , presented a solo
performance accompanied by the lute that fascinated the
French audience. Upon the invitation of the Egyptian Embassy
in France, David Ensemble performed in January 2000 in the
Arab World Institute in Paris and in the southern French
city Agd. |
| In The Press |
|
The biggest
international and local newspapers and magazines had written
in admiration of the ensemble for its outstanding
performance. From the famous newspapers that wrote about the
ensemble were the French ‘Le Figaro’, the Swedish ‘D.N.’ and
the Egyptian ‘Al-Ahram’, ‘Al-Akhbar’ and “Wattany”, in
addition to the international magazines like “Re-Orient”,
“Musical”, “Le Politan” and the 1995 edition of Paris
municipality book. Worldwide
radio and television channels have also broadcast several
records for the ensemble and interviews with the leader and
founder of the ensemble, the conductor George Kyrillos.
Among those channels were ‘Ben Ali TV’, ‘Min. Spr. Red.TV’,
‘Miniatyr TV’, ‘Arab Radio’, ‘TV-reports’ and ‘Can Saydam
Radio’. David
ensemble has also set the sound track of many religious
films that were directed by the great Egyptian director
‘Samir Seif’, such as the films ‘Saint Mina’ in 1989, ‘Saint
Barsoum the bare’ in 1990 and ‘Saint Demiana’ in 1991. The
ensemble has released a lot of records including a series of
albums titled ‘Christ’s Crucifixion’, ‘The Resurrection’,
‘Comforts’ and ‘The Virgin’. They have also released a CD
that was produced by Arab World Institute in Paris and
participated in the CD titled ‘The Egyptian Mozart’ produced
by Virgin Classics Ltd. with the organization from The
Egyptian Centre for Cultural and Arts managed by Dr. Ahmed
Al-Maghraby (who holds the position of the Cultural Attaché
of Egypt in Paris). The latest album the ensemble has
released was titled ‘Early Coptic Hymns’ (as a cassette and
CD) that included hymns from the holy liturgy for example
‘Hiten ni presvia’, ‘Agios’ and ‘Amen ton thanton’; hymns
from the midnight praise such as ‘Arihouo-Chasf’ and ‘Aripsalin’;
and from those chanted in the Holy Week like ‘Golgotha’. |
| The Professionals |
|
And over the
past twenty four years, since the ensemble has started its
ministry, a large number of professional players and
chanters who possess scientific degrees in music such as
Ph.D., Masters and Diploma joined the ensemble until the
number of members reached 27. The famous cantor, ‘Ibrahim
Ayad’, the disciple of his holiness “Pope Shenouda III”,
also joined the ensemble in presenting a large number of
performances inside and outside Egypt. The
ensemble has gained wide popularity as it is distinguished
for presenting the Coptic hymns and psalms with an
attractive spiritual and scientific style, and for the
truthful performance overflowing with emotions by the choir
members who were selected with great care. |
| The Best Ensemble |
|
Throughout the
past 25 years, David ensemble was able to be a guide and a
lighthouse on the praising path and transferred it from the
local scale of amateurish and unprofessional work to the
worldwide scale of professionalism and the scientific way
mixed with the spiritual performance. However,
the ensemble was not satisfied by just composing and
presenting several performances, but it contributed to the
establishing of a number of religious groups and orchestras
such as ‘The Coptic Church Orchestra and Choir’ and ‘Nazer
Al-Ilah Orchestra and Choir’ but itself remained the leader
and the most distinguished among the rest of groups which
appeared during this period of time |
