EVENING EVENT! SPEAKER: NIMET HABACHY | ENTERTAINER: KAMEL BOUTROS

Must RSVP by the Friday before

$55 admission includes a three-course lunch payable at the door by cash or check only

Along with Mozart, Beethoven, Rimsky-Korsakov and so many others, Nimet Habachy kept insomniacs and night-time workers company as WQXR's all night-DJ for 42 years--which is a great deal longer than Scheherazade's measly 1001 nights! Though Nimet may not have been immortalized in a ballet or symphonic suite like Scheherazade, she may well be kindly remembered by truck drivers, a convict or two, New York cabbies, members of NY's Finest and many more who were inspired by her vast musical knowledge and choice of classical selections. Nimet is a born raconteuse and you may find yourself laughing out loud at this all night DJ's  cherished memories of what went on in the wee hours in the City That Never Sleeps.   

Habachy grew up in Cairo, Egypt speaking Arabic, English and French and at age 10, the abdication of King Farouk, spurred a relocation of her family to the United States. WQXR, the classical music radio station of the New York Times, hired Nimet as their first all-night radio host, where she delighted night owls and night workers presenting classical favorites for 42 years.

Cairo-born Kamel Boutros is a modern New York City Renaissance Man. As an internationally acclaimed opera baritone, he has performed baritone roles in multiple seasons at the Metropolitan Opera in New York under the baton of James Levine, Gergiev and others, as well as in the UK, Japan, India, Italy, France, and in other countries. He has shared stages at the Louvre in Paris, Bepu-Japan, and Verbier with his close friend, piano virtuoso Martha Argerich , the late Luciano Pavarotti, Tony Award winner Ruthie Ann Miles, and many others. As an actor, he has appeared on the New York Off Broadway stage in Babette’s Feast and in award winning independent films and television shows, including major roles as 9/11 terrorist leader Mohammed Atta in The Hamburg Cell and as Mahmoud in The Death of Klinghoffer. He has also arranged music for film and television shows, such as Damages.

A superb classical pianist, he currently is the Music Director of Calvary – St. George’s Church parish in Gramercy Park, New York City, where he programs, conducts, writes and performs an extraordinarily broad range of sacred music from multiple nations and genres composed over the last five centuries. Calvary – St. George’s Church has had the benefit of Kamel’s reputation over the years to bring an incredible array of guest musicians and singers from many cities and countries into its parish for exciting renditions of anything from a Bach oratorio to a Haydn symphony to a Bahamian Christmas carol to Middle Eastern music featuring the oud, to Americana and gospel hymns to contemporary electric worship music.