The Cairo Opera House will open the 34th Arab Music Festival and Conference on Tuesday, October 20, with a “Hany Shaker Night” in its Main Hall, launching a programme of concerts in Cairo and Alexandria that runs until the end of the month, according to the Opera’s official calendar and Ahram Online.
This year’s edition is dedicated to the memory of Hany Shaker, the Egyptian singer known as one of the leading romantic voices of his generation, who died in Paris in May at the age of 73. It also comes after weeks of public debate over the festival’s budget, which briefly led several well-known performers to pull out.
A tribute to a pillar of Egyptian song
The opening concert, billed as “Hany Shaker Night”, is scheduled for 8pm in the Main Hall. According to Al-Ahram’s Arabic news portal, it will include tributes to leading figures of Arabic song, with Opera singers joined by Mohamed Shahin, Anoushka and Nadia Mostafa, accompanied by an orchestra conducted by maestro Ahmed Amer.
Shaker rose to fame in the early 1970s with “Helwa Ya Donia” and went on to record classics such as “Kida Bardo Ya Amar”, “Nesyanak Sa’b” and “Ma’ak”. He also served as head of Egypt’s Musicians Syndicate. Dedicating the festival to him gives the 2026 edition a strong sense of continuity with the tarab tradition the event was founded to protect in 1992.
From Walid Tawfik to Omar Khairat
The official Cairo Opera calendar lists a dense line-up for the Main Hall. Lebanese star Walid Tawfik and Tunisian singer Amal Gharby perform on Wednesday, October 21, followed by Amal Maher on Thursday, October 22. Ghada Ragab, Ali El-Haggar, Mohamed El-Helw, Khaled Selim and Yasmine Ali are scheduled across the following nights.
Pianist and composer Omar Khairat takes the stage on Wednesday, October 28, while Medhat Saleh closes the Main Hall series on Friday, October 30. Al-Ahram also lists Iraqi singer Humam Ibrahim, Jordanian singer Tarek El Fakih and Tunisia’s Yosra Mahnouch among the guests. A parallel programme at the Arab Music Institute focuses on heritage repertoire, religious chanting and takht ensembles, with concerts also planned at the Sayed Darwish Theatre in Alexandria.
A festival tested by a budget row
The build-up was not smooth. Ahram Online reported that remarks by Opera House chairman Reda El-Wakil at a press conference on September 30, citing financial constraints and the difficulty of attracting more major stars, triggered a wave of reactions from musicians.
Ali El-Haggar, who has performed at every edition since 1992, initially withdrew over what he called an inadequate budget for his accompanying musicians, before announcing his return on October 4. He is now due to sing in Cairo on October 24 and at the closing concert in Alexandria on October 29. Several artists, including Omar Khairat, Amal Maher and Nadia Mostafa, were reported to have reduced or waived their fees to support the event.
Alongside the concerts, the conference strand will host research sessions and seminars on Arabic music. Tickets are sold through the Tazkarti platform.