Egypt has officially announced the addition of five new members to its prestigious list of violins, including violinist Amos Lee.
The announcement comes just a week after Egypt announced its top three classical violinists, violinist Elias Abed al-Khatib, violinists Mohamed Maksim and Naser El Khaddour and percussionist Mohamed Elhassan.
The 2017 list includes two violinists who played with Lee, who has been honored with the “International Philharmonic of the World” award.
“We will also bring to this list two new members,” said Musa Abdel-Aziz, a member of the orchestra of Egypt, the country’s most prestigious orchestra.
The orchestra will begin a two-year residency in Istanbul and will return to Cairo in June, Abdel-Abed said.
The musicians will be the first to play in the city since Egypt began awarding the international award in 2014.
Lee has been an active member of Egypt’s classical music scene for more than 40 years, and he has been nominated by the orchestra twice for its prestigious “International” awards.
He won the award for “Musical Impression of a Young Woman” in 2017.
Lee was born in Cairo and raised in Alexandria.
He began playing violin in his youth, but his first career in music came in the 1980s when he was commissioned by the Cairo Symphony Orchestra to teach and lead the orchestra.
Lee joined the orchestra as an understudy in 1988.
He went on to become a key member of its orchestra.
He has played with a number of prominent artists, including Tameem Khaddoum, Moustapha Akil, and the late Egyptian composer Mahmoud ElBaradei.