Nabila M. Erian (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

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

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

Academy of Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

. Her career as a leading

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female 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 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

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 (Church of Egypt) and the Coptic Catholic Church. It consists mainly of chanted hymns in rhythm with instruments such as cymbals (hand and large size) and the triangle. Copt ...

. 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 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 research university in Baltimore County, Maryland. It has a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs (38 master, 25 doctoral, ...

. 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 (up to postgraduate level) across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and ...

. In 1965, she obtained an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) 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. Tho ...

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

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in English Literature from the Faculty of Arts,

Cairo University Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...

. 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 ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...

in Arabic on the stage of the

Khedivial Opera House The Khedivial Opera House or Royal Opera House ( ar, دار الأوبرا الخديوية / 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 1 ...

. 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 (b. Cairo, May 6, 1916; d. Cairo, May 14, 1993) was one of the most prominent Egyptian composers of the twentieth century. He completed his primary and secondary education at the St. Joseph – La Salle College in Khoronfish, Cairo ...

, 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 politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

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 an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

{{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)