Cairo Symphony

Principal Conductor&Artistic Director: Jiří Petrdlík. Jiri Petrdlik was born in 1977. He studied conducting at Prague Conservatoire (1995-2000), with professors H.Farkac, M. Kosler and M. Nemcova. In 2000-2005, he continued his education at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Music and Dance Faculty, Department of Conducting with professors Jiri Belohlavek, Tomas Koutnik, Radomil Eliska, Frantisek Vajnar and others. In 2004, he took also master classes with Kurt Masur in Wroclaw. Since 2002 he has been conducting in the National Theatre in Brno and in 2004 - 2009 he was appointed as a Principal Conductor in the City Theatre in Brno. Since 2005 he has been a Permanent Conductor in the J. K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, since 2008 he is a Principal Guest Conductor in Mazowiecki Teatr Muzyczny in Warsaw, Poland. He has been a Guest Conductor in the National Theatre in Prague as well.

Jiri Petrdlik also conducts the renowned Czech symphony orchestras such as Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Teplice Philharmonic Orchestra, Ceske Budejovice Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Olomouc Philharmonic Orchestra etc... He often conducts abroad, for example Teatro di Messina, North Texas University Opera, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse etc. He also regularly participates in the famous festivals in Europe, USA and Japan and is also engaged in both the educational and research activities. Currently Mr Petrdlik is the Art Principal in the Prague Mixed Chorus and a member of Board of the Antonin Dvorak Society and a founder member of the Zdenek Fibich Society. Director: Yasser El Serafi. Born in Alexandria, he started to play violin at the Alexandria Conservatoire with Renato Borghese and Lisette Meguerdditchian at the age of six. In 1986 He won the first prize in the National Strings Competition . In 1988, he received a scholarship from the French government to continue his studies in Paris. He was awarded four gold medals in Violin ,chamber music ,theory and conducting from the Conservatoire National de Rueil–Malmaison and the Conservatoire National de Paris. He studied Violin with Ruggiero Ricci (Italy),Ion Voicu(Romania),Gerard Poulet(France),Eric Friedman(USA),Kojy Tojoda(Japan). He studied conducting with Gerard Devos ( 1^st prize of Besancon International Conducting competition). Where he got 1 st prize from C.N.R.de Rueil Malmaison His debut with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra was in 1991 and 1993 at the Cairo Opera House Anniversaries. Since 1993, he has been Concertmaster of the Cairo symphony Orchestra and has performed recitals in Paris, Rome, Geneva and in Japan at Ayoyama University, Suntory Hall, Kyoto Cocert Hall. In 1997, he received a Fulbright Scholarship to study violin with Erick Friedman at Yale University (in the U.S.A). In 1999 he received a scholarship from the japan foundation to study the Suzuki Method in Matsumoto in Japan for 6 months. He also conducted The Cairo symphony in several occasions. He obtained a bachelor and Diploma Degree at Cairo Commerce university in 2005/2009.

The Conductor&Director