An Egyptian opera singer, born as Farrah El Dibany 33 years ago in Alexandria, performed at the celebration of French President Emmanuel Macron's re-election last night. She sang the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, and at the end, Macron approached and kissed her hand, thanking her, as seen in the video below. El Dibany, who graduated from the Hanns-Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin with a Bachelor's in Arts, is the first foreign soprano to celebrate a presidential victory in France, as noted by "Al Arabiya" from a brief article in the local newspaper Libération. She is also the first foreigner to perform the anthem "La Marseillaise," one of the oldest anthems in the world, which was written and adopted in 1795 during the French Revolution.
Some French media reported about Farrah El Dibany, as her first name was published, stating that she joined the Paris Opera Academy in 2016 and won its prestigious award for opera singing three years later, making her the first Egyptian singer to achieve this. In a registry of her accomplishments, El Dibany, who performed the role of Cornelia in Handel's "Julius Caesar" at the Cairo Opera House, has a significant list of achievements.
In 2013, she won the third prize at the "Gioia Bertotti" International Opera Singing Competition and appeared the following year in the role of Ramiro in Mozart's "The Garden Girl," as well as in the role of "Dido" in Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas," and the leading role in Bizet's "Carmen." Consequently, the German magazine "Opera World" described her as the best young operatic talent.
El Dibany grew up in a musical family, accustomed to listening to the classical music favored by her parents. Her grandfather was a pianist, and she began learning to play the piano at the age of seven. By age 14, she started receiving vocal training from the famous Egyptian opera singer, Nivine Alouba, which eventually led to her emergence as a first-rate Arab opera star.
