Mezzo-Soprano Farrah El-Dibany recently received “Prix Lyrique 2019 de l’AROP” Award by the Paris Opera House. She is not only the first Egyptian but the first Arab to ever receive this award and to sing at the prestigious Paris Opera House. “Prix Lyrique de l’AROP is awarded annually to a female and a male Uprising Opera Singers. The award ceremony was held at Opera Garnier (Paris Opera) where Farah sang an extract from Carmen by Bizet in the presence of HE, the Egyptian Ambassador Ehab Badawy and his wife, and many French dignitaries.
From a very young age, Farrah grew up in a musical environment where she developed a keen ear for the art. She was born and raised in Alexandria. In 2005, she entered the Arts Centre of the Library of Alexandria, and then five years later, she enrolled in the Hanns-Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin. Farah got a Bachelor’s degree in architecture at Berlin’s Technische Universität and a Master’s degree at the Berlin University of the Arts.
In 2013, she was awarded 3rd Prize at the International Giulio Perotti Singing Competition and she sang the role of Cornelia in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at the Cairo Opera. In 2014, she appeared as Ramiro in Mozart’s La finta giardiniera and Dido in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the Radialsystem V in Berlin and then, in 2015, in the title role of Carmen at the Neuköllner Oper. She was also named Best Young Opera Talent by Opernwelt magazine. She reprised the role in Rheinsberg after winning a prize at the 2017 Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg Festival. Farrah then joined the Paris Opera Academy in September 2016. In 2018, she was awarded the “Wagner Stiftung” Prize and performed for the occasion at the Komische Oper in Berlin and at the Bayreuth Festival.
Her repertoire includes the alto solo sections of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Mozart’s Requiem, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the Second and Third Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Amastre in Handel’s Xerxes, Martha in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta, Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, and Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus. She performed the alto solo passages of David Lang’s The Little Match Girl Passion at the Palais Garnier for a choreographed piece by Simon Valastro. She also performs at the Paris Opera Academy where her roles include Kate Julian in Owen Wingrave and the Little Miss in Philippe Boesmans’ Reigen.
Farrah has an extremely busy summer this year. This month, she is singing the role of Dido in extracts of the Opera Dido and Aeneas at the Paris Opera. Next month, she will sing the Role of Carmen in Bizet’s Opera Carmen, at the Opera festival of Glatt in Germany. She also has two concerts at a Paris Theatre where she will perform Dalida’s songs.