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The Egyptian baritone, Raouf G. Zaidan, was born in Egypt to British Egyptian parents. He studied at Maadi Canal School in Cairo (Egypt Class of 1958), el kawmeya maadi school (Class of 1966) and Victory College Maadi (Class of 1969). He studied Journalism/Political Science at the American University in Cairo (AUC) (Class of 1969). He worked as Accountant and Factory manager at George J Zaidan in Cairo (June 1970-December 1973). He discovered that singing was his life’s passion. After studying piano, chemistry, political science and journalism he followed his dream and trained as an opera singer. He studied Piano and Voice at Trinity College Of Music in London (Class of 1978), and Acting · Singing at the Royal College of Music in London (Opera School Postgraduate Course: Class of 1980). He had pursued vocal studies in University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton, where he obtained his Master of Music degree in Singing 1986 and I was awarded a Teaching Assistantship; and University of Colorado in Boulder, where he obtained his Doctor of Musical Arts in in Pedagogy and Singing in 1995.
Raouf Zaidan sings in Egypt and internationally. He was baritone soloist at the Cairo Opera Company from September 1982 to September 2003. With gaps when he performed, worked and studied abroad, he was a member of this company for a long stretch of years. His roles included Papageno, Zurga, Ben, Schaunard, Marcello, Germont, Tobbia Mill, Signor Bruschino, Don Parmenione, Athanael, Morales, Ping, Figaro, Leporello, Malatesta, Belcore. He moved to the USA from 2003 to 2013. Believing that opera is musical theater at its greatest, he has devoted his life to singing in the language of the audience whenever possible. Communicating words and meanings with the singing voice with fine diction is a hallmark of this singer. He was the first baritone to sing Guglielmo, Figaro and Leporello (in W.A. Mozart's da Ponte operas) and Papageno in The Magic Flute in Arabic; and in the USA he is known for his performances of Gilbert & Sullivan lead roles.
Raouf Zaidan is a teacher and leader in his field. Since 1987 he has been vocal coach and principal singer of the W.A. Mozart in Arabic project of Dr. Aly Sadek. He established and trained Choirs and opera workshops and taught singing in Egypt and the USA He served as Associate Professor of Music at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota (August 2005-May 2009), teaching singing, diction, opera workshop; Adjunct Voice Faculty at New York University (2009-2010); Adjunct Professor at New Jersey City University (September 2010-May 2012), teaching vocal pedagogy and diction, singing. In 2013 he returned to teach at my AUC, his Alma Mater in Egypt, serving as Voice Professor (February 2013-February 2015); and then Professor of Music at Heliopolis University For Sustainable Development in Cairo (February-October 2013). Since September 2013, he is Owner and Artistic Director of Fabrica, a new center for training singers in Cairo.
Raouf Zaidan now lives, sings and works in Maadi, Egypt believing that the revolution has opened up new possibilities for the creative arts and made room for his idealism and inspiration. He teaches at his Maadi studio. With colleagues Neveen Allouba and Mohamed Aboulkheir he founded a new center “Fabrica” for Musical Theater and the training of singers in Cairo. He is establishing a new Gilbert & Sullivan project for Egypt with H.M.S. Pinafore as its launching opera next season. |
