Visitors or Egyptian players, they are really all voyagers on the same international piano speedway route which, due to media diffusion, makes siblings of them all. The going is deadly. The piano is a cruel, demanding task-master. Men get by in the scrum due to histrionic, visual and quirky intellectual assault on instrument and audience, with an accent on sheer strength of technique. The women who can swim in these rough waters are few.
Women show off at the keyboard less than the men.
Dina El-Leithi doesn't show off at all. She is a hunched, dedicated, deeply intelligent prober, never a high flyer. Her technique is improving yearly, broadening, but for sure she is more the musician than the virtuoso. Her arena will be smaller, but it is the one where the real listeners will go. Therefore, though no lioness, she is an authentic sibyl.