Mina Ghobrial

Ghobrial took up the flute at twelve at the Cairo Conservatoire, where he later completed his bachelor's degree, then moved to France to study with Jean-Louis Beaumadier in Marseille and Patrick Gallois in Paris, collecting seven gold medals from the conservatoires of Marseille and Aulnay-sous-Bois. He played in Daniel Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, at the Albert Hall and the Berlin Philharmonie among other halls; he was principal flute of the Mediterranean Sea Orchestra and has worked with the Alexandria Chamber Orchestra and the Cairo Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra. He won the international flute competition at Nice in 2010 and a soloist's first prize from Egypt's Supreme Council of Culture. Several contemporary composers have written pieces for him, and he founded the principal flute chair of Alexandria's contemporary music ensemble. He returns regularly to the Cairo Opera House, in concerto repertoire and in solo recital. In 2011 he formed a chamber duo with the guitarist Romain Lunge, and the piccolo has its own place in his work.