For the first time in Egypt the dazzling Disney performance Alice in Wonderland was presented at the Must Opera House Hall located in 6 October City to resounding success. The audience included a number of public figures such as actress Hala Sidki along with her son and daughter, politician Amr Hamzawi, his wife actress Basma and their daughter Nadia, actor Ahmed Al-Saqqa with his family and actress Hind Sabri with her two daughters. The German Embassy in Egypt celebrated the diversity of Egyptian-German cooperation at Al-Azhar Park featuring a concert with the Saharah band from Egypt and the Shantel & Bucovina Club band from Germany, Nesmahar Sayed reports. German Ambassador Hans-Jorg Haber stressed the importance of collaboration between the two countries. “We were captivated by the idea of connecting our presence in Egypt even for one day with Al-Azhar Institution as one of the main symbols that represents for many centuries a religious, scientific, cultural and economic minaret,” he said. Present were the Mayor of Stuttgart Fritz Kuhn and the Governor of Cairo Galal Al-Said. Among those welcomed to dinner at the Belgian Ambassador Gilles Heyvaert's guests were Australian Ambassador Ralph King, French Ambassador Nicolas Galey, South Korean Ambassador Yung-so Kim, Hungarian Ambassador Peter Kveck, Dutch Ambassador Gerard Steeghs, Brazilian Ambassador Marco Brando, Georgian Ambassador Archil Dzuliashvili, Argentinean Ambassador Sergio Alberto Baur, Austrian Ambassador Ferdinand Maultasch, Mexican Ambassador Jorge Alvarez Fuentes, Finnish Ambassador Tuula Yrjölä, Mongolian Ambassador Odonjil Banzragch and his Serbian counterpart Dragon Bisenic. On the occasion of Austrian National Day, the Austrian Ambassador Ferdinand Maultasch gave a reception at his residence in Garden City. Present were Fayoum Governor Hazem Attiatallah, deputy Foreign Minister Ambassador Badr Abdel-Atti, businessmen Mansour Al-Gammal and Amr Badr, Russian Ambassador Serge Kirpichenko, Chinese Ambassador Song Aiguo, Singaporean Ambassador Premjith Sadasivan, German Ambassador Hansjörg Haber, Polish Ambassador Michal Murkociński, European Union Ambassador James Moran, Belgian Ambassador Gilles Heyvaert, Swiss Ambassador Markus Leitner, Vatican Ambassador Jean-Paul Gobel, Cyprus Ambassador Sotos Liasides, Belarus Ambassador Sergi Rachkov, Armenian Ambassador Armen Melkonian, Greek Ambassador Chris Lazaris, Georgian Ambassador Archil Dzuliashvili, Argentinean Ambassador Sergio Alberto Baur, Brazilian Ambassador Marco Brando and his Chilean counterpart José Miguel de la Cruz. Under the auspices of the Cairo University President Gaber Nassar, the department of English Language and Literature chaired by Lubna Youssef will hold its twelfth international symposium, “Literature and Language of Resistance” from 11 to 13 November. With 100 participants from Egyptian, Arab and foreign universities the symposium tackles resistance in different manifestations: grand and localised narratives , history and alternative history, passive resistance, silence and voice, humour, the power of the image, globalisation and localisation, and the power of the body .Two keynote addresses will be given by Mohamed Enani at Cairo University and Glenn Jordan at Cardiff University in addition to a panel session on Images as Alternative Histories and Texts Under the auspices of the British Consulate, actress, singer and film producer Bushra celebrated the launch of reading initiative at the British Council together with a large number of children. On the occasion Bushra was announced a Goodwill Ambassador for Children. In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture (MACIC) will hand out the Glimpses of India Painting competition prizes on 10 November at 5.30 pm at Al-Gomhuriya Theatre. The famous actress Leila Elwi will be the chief guest of the event. Members of the Arab community in Moscow and the press attended the opening of Jordanian jewellery designer Lama Hourani's exhibition at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the first state museum in Russia. This is Hourani's second important show after her latest in Hong Kong. In the last 15 years she has produced 40 collections. On Science Day the Egypt Scientists Council (ESC) honoured the Director of the Cairo Opera House Ines Abdel-Dayem, the former dean of Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University, Alia Al-Mahdi and the dean of Faculty of Literature at Tanta University Mohamed Zaki Al-Sedemi. It also honoured inventors and innovators Sherif Salah, Ahmed Abdel-Rahman and Mahmoud Hafez as well as eye surgeon Osama Al-Nahrawi, medical engineer Sherine Farag, nuclear scientist Mohamed Hussein Eissa and scholar Mohamed Fouad Al-Komi. The 23rd Arab Music Festival and Conference opened on 1 November at the Cairo Opera House Main Hall with an operetta entitled Al-Fann Watan (Art is a Nation) and the unveiling of a polyester statue of the late legendary singer Abdel-Halim Hafez by sculptor Mohamed Thabet. The event also featured the inauguration of a calligraphy exhibition by Mustafa Khodeir and Hassan Hassouba by the Director of the Cairo Opera House Ines Abdel-Dayem, the Director of the Festival Gihan Morsi and the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Culture Mohamed Afifi. This year's round is dedicated to the late violinist Attiya Sharara and media figure Wagdi Al-Hakim, who is also one the festival's founders. Honoured were musicians Hani Shenouda and Magdi Al-Husseini, composer Farouk Al-Sharnoubi, Syrian music scholar Elham Abul-Soud, Syrian singer Sabah Fakhri, Iraqi musician Hussein Qadouri, among others. Last week in Dokki, Cairo, the Korean Ambassador Young So Kim opened the first Korean Cultural Centre of its kind in the Arab region. In his inaugural speech, Kim pointed out that this is the 27th cultural centre in the world and marks an important contribution to Egyptian-Korean relations. Present at the event were First Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Culture and head of the Cultural Affairs and Scholarships Sector Al-Helali Al-Sherbini, who said the idea of establishing an Egyptian cultural centre in South Korea is being studied. Also present were First Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Cultural Relations Camelia Sobhi, Deputy Assistant of the Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs Amal Salama, President of the Egyptian-Korean Business Council Sherif Al-Gabali and Head of Egypt's Public Libraries Fund Reda Al-Taefi.
