Nabila M. Erian (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: نبيلة عريان, born 1941) is a professor of vocal sciences at the

Cairo Conservatoire The Cairo Conservatoire (; transliteration: ''Ma'had el-Konservatwar''; full name: "المعهد العالي للموسيقى "الكونســرفاتوار) is the primary College or university school of music, music conservatory in Egypt. It was ...

Academy of Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. Her career as a leading

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

singer debuted in 1960. She is also an expert on the history of

Coptic music Coptic music is the music sung and played in the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Coptic Catholic Church. It has some roots in ancient Egyptian music and many elements of ancient Egyptian music continue to survive in Coptic liturgical music, with add ...

. Her latest research revolves around the continuity between the current practiced Coptic music and the Ancient Egyptian tradition. Erian advocates for the construction of a new modern state of the arts opera house at the New Cairo Administrative Capital.

Education

Erian obtained her

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

entitled ''Coptic Music: An Egyptian Tradition'' in 1986 from the

University of Maryland, Baltimore County The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a Public university, public research university in Catonsville, Maryland named after Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County. It had a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 un ...

. Between 1970 and 1973 she obtained several diplomas and a fellowship from the

Trinity College London Trinity College London (TCL) is an examination board based in London, United Kingdom which offers graded and diploma qualifications across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and teaching. Trinity Colleg ...

. In 1965, she obtained an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

from the Academia di Santa Cecilia, Rome and in 1962, a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in English Literature from the Faculty of Arts,

Cairo University Cairo University () is Egypt's premier public university. Its main campus is in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo. It was founded on 21 December 1908;"Brief history and development of Cairo University." Cairo University Faculty of En ...

. Her school leaving certificate in 1958 was obtained from the English Mission College, Cairo.

Career

Erian's career on the stage of the Opera spans half a century. She is known for being the first Egyptian soprano to perform a translated international opera. In 1964, she played the role of Violetta whereby she sang Verdi's La Traviata in Arabic on the stage of the

Khedivial Opera House The Khedivial Opera House or Royal Opera House ( / ALA-LC: ''Dār Awbirā al-Khudaywī'') was an opera house in Cairo, Egypt, the oldest opera house in all of Africa. It was inaugurated on 1 November 1869 and it burned down on 28 October 1971. ...

. She was also the Director of the Cairo Opera Company and the Associate Dean of the Cairo Conservatoire. In 2017, Erian delivered the introductory keynote speech at the La Traviata Met Live transmission at the American University in Cairo.

Repertoire

Her repertoire includes most international composers for whom she sang in Italian, French, German and Russian. Those include among others: Puccini's ''Madama Butterfly'', ''Tosca'' and ''La Bohème'', Verdi's ''La Traviata'', ''Aida'' and ''Rigoletto'', Mozart's ''Le Nozze di Figaro'', ''Bastien und Bastienne'', and ''Don Giovanni'', Bizet's ''Carmen'', Handel's oratorios, etc. Erian sang in Arabic for many Egyptian composers including Abu Bakr Khairat,

Aziz El-Shawan Aziz El-Shawan (born Cairo, May 6, 1916; died Cairo, May 14, 1993) was one of the most prominent Egyptian composers of the twentieth century. Biography He completed his primary and secondary education at the St. Joseph – La Salle College ...

, Hasan Rashid and Gamal Abdel Rehim among others. She sang the first ever Arabic Opera Anas el-Wugood (أنس الوجود) composed by Aziz El-Shawan based on the One Thousand and One Nights stories in 1994.

Awards

* In 1964, Nabila Erian was awarded by President

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

on the occasion of 'Id al-'Ilm" (tr. the Sciences Festival). She was the second Egyptian singer to receive this award after Umm Kalthum. * Between the seventies and the nineties Erian obtained several international music awards from Japan (Butterfly), France, Budapest awards, Bach and Leinberg contests.

Publications

* "Speculations on the Artistic Process as Cultural Identity," Bulletin of the 25th Anniversary of the Academy of Arts, Cairo, 1985. * "Aida at the Pyramids", Cairo Today. Monthly Review, Cairo, 1984.

References

;Footnotes ;Sources
Article at Al-Ahram Weekly On-lineArticle at ahram.org

External links

Nabilan Erian
on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erian, Nabila Living people Egyptian women academics 20th-century Egyptian women singers University of Maryland, Baltimore County alumni Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni Cairo University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)