Every year the Opera offers a plethora of activities during the hot summer months. Once the regular season ends in June, the Opera shifts its attention to festivals held in a variety of locations across Cairo, Alexandria and Damanhour. This summer proves particularly difficult for the whole cultural field; political struggles within the cultural scene from May to July have no doubt impacted the programming of the Cairo Opera House. The dismissal of Ines Abdel-Dayem from the Opera's chair on 28 May by the former minister of culture, Alaa Abdel-Aziz and her return on 17 July following the revocation of that decision by the current minister, Mohamed Saber Arab, left a gap in the summer preparations. Though the Opera's doors were closed throughout July and half of August, efforts are now being made to fill the remaining summer weeks with music. Two major events will kick off on Thursday 15 August: the Summer Festival held at the Open-Air Theatre and the Arabic Music Festival taking place on the stage of Alexandria's Sayed Darwish Theatre (the Alexandria Opera House). In the next few days we should hear more about the Citadel Festival for Music and Singing, an event with over two decades of history offering live music at the historical Saladin Citadel. This year's Citadel Festival should begin in the last week of August and will last until the first few days of September. But even prior to Citadel Festival, the Cairo Summer Festival kicks off on 15 August and will run until 4 September. This annual event usually lasts four to six weeks between July and August and consists of a series of music and film events. This year's edition will be shorter and limited to music concerts with Arabic and Oriental tunes dominating the programme. On 15 August Yasser Moawad and the Arab Takht Ensemble will open the festival. On 16 August, Mohamed Mohsen and his band will perform a collection of well-known Egyptian songs from Sayed Darwish, Zakaria Ahmed and Sayed Mekkawi, topped with several Oriental tunes and original compositions. Emad Hamdi's guitar will transport listeners to the gems of Latin music on 17 August. The Oriental Jazz band Sharkiat will take the stage on 18 August with Fathi Salama. On 19 August, the Sweet Sound Band, an ensemble co-founded and managed by Mounir Nasreddin in the 1970s, will perform an amalgam of light classical, soul and Latin music. On 21 August the festival will also include Massar Egbari, a popular decade-old band known for its fusions of funk, Oriental melodies and rock. Recently, Massar Egbari released their debut album, Ekraa Al-Khabar (Read the News). On 23 August, the Amro Salah Trio will perform Oriental Jazz featuring Nagwan and Arabic songs. Each year, the young talents from the Talents Development Centre operating under the Opera's umbrella take the stage to present their skills. This year the centre will perform on 26 and 31 August. The list of events in the Opera's Summer Festival goes on, each day offering the audience something interesting: the Konouz Ensemble with its classical Arabic repertoire (22 August), Barawiz performing Nubian music (24 August), the Nogoom Al-Tarab Ensemble (2 September), etc. From Arabic music to jazz fusions, with almost 20 performers each day, all attendees should find something appealing to for the final days of summer holidays. However one will still miss a few musicians who are usually included in the summer's line-up and who do not appear in this year's programme: Nesma Abdel-Aziz with her marimba, Manal Mohieddin on the harp and Sobhi Bedair and Friends. While Cairo's audiences are treated to concerts at the Opera's Open-Air theatre, Alexandria's listeners will be offered a slightly different but equally interesting event: the Seventh Arabic Music Festival. This series of concerts will be performed at the Sayed Darwish Theatre (Alexandria Opera House) between 15 and 23 August, and will include a wide assortment of well-known singers, mostly Egyptian: Hani Shaker, Ali Al-Haggar, Medhat Saleh, Mohamed Al-Helw, Iman Al-Bahr Darwish, Souma, Mohsen Farouk, Ahmed Ibrahim, Marwa Nagui, Reham Abdel-Hakim, Amira Ahmed, May Farouk, Rehab Metawea, Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar, Imen Abdal-Ghani, Abgad Al-Atafi, Ahmed Effat, Walid Heidar, among others. The festival will also include performances by composer and pianist Omar Khairat, pianist Amr Selim, and kanoun player Maged Sorour. Musicians will be accompanied by the Abdel-Halim Nowera Ensemble for Arab Music conducted by Salah Ghobashi, the National Arab Music Ensemble conducted by Selim Sehab and Heritage Ensemble for Arabic Music conducted by Farouk Al-Babli as well as Alexandria Troupe for Music and Singing conducted by Abdel-Hamid Abdel-Ghaffar. On 15 August, during the opening ceremony of the Seventh Arabic Music Festival, several Egyptian musicians will be honoured for their contributions to the country's artistic life: songwriter and singer Ibrahim Abdel-Shafie; lyricist Emad Hassan; songwriter Awad Badawi; composer and songwriter Farouk Al-Sharnoubi; singer Ezzat Awadallah and others. Details of Cairo's Summer Festival and Alexandria's Seventh Arabic Music Festival can be obtained at the Cairo and Alexandria Opera houses or on the Cairo Opera House's official Facebook page. In the next few days Citadel Music Festival for Music and Singing programme will also be published.
