Cascading Crises Surround the Arab Music Festival.. Resignation of the Head of the Egyptian Opera

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Suddenly and unexpectedly, technical crises surrounded the 34th Arab Music Festival, which is supposed to take place from October 20 to 30 in Cairo. The crisis escalated with the resignation of the head of the opera house after major artists withdrew from participating in the festival.

The crises began to surface after the press conference chaired by Reda El Wakil, head of the Egyptian Opera House, on Wednesday, where he announced the details of the new edition of the Arab Music Festival. However, he pointed out during his speech some challenges facing the festival, the most important of which is the weak budget. Following this, artist Mohamed Tharwat announced his withdrawal from participating in this edition, despite it being named after his journey companion and close friend, the late artist Hani Shaker.

Tharwat revealed that the reason for his withdrawal was his rejection of some practices occurring within the festival. He expressed this through a post he wrote on his Facebook account, stating: "I will not accept or participate in the humiliation of Egyptian art or Egyptian artists, and therefore... I have decided not to participate in the Arab Music Festival for the year 2026."

Tharwat's withdrawal was like a stone thrown into stagnant waters, as it was followed a few hours later by the withdrawal of the great singer Ali El Haggar, who also announced his withdrawal, saying in a post on Facebook: "I have apologized for participating in this year's Arab Music Festival, and this is the first time I will not participate since the festival's inception."

He added: "The real reason is that the Opera House adopted a weak and humiliating financial budget for the accompanying musical ensemble, which I did not accept, and this is the truth that the head of the Opera House ignored to mention in the press conference."

Continuing with these withdrawals, a source from within the Arab Music Festival revealed in statements to "Al Arabiya.net" that several artists have apologized for participating in the 34th edition of the festival when the festival management contacted them to perform some concerts as part of its activities.

The source added that among the artists who apologized are Mai Farouk, Ahmed Saad, Mohamed Mohsen, and others, which prompted the festival management to quickly look for alternatives.

All these events have put the head of the Egyptian Opera House in a big crisis, which led him to announce his resignation through a post he wrote on Facebook today, in which he said: "Before I leave you in peace to continue the previous habits and methods that I hope will not return, which I started to modify for our interests in a short period, and I have already succeeded in changing some behaviors and actions that I could not and will not accept their existence throughout my presidency of this great edifice, the Egyptian Opera House, our second home... I apologize to you."

He added: "I wished to be with you until the end of my appointment period, because I have the ability to change, but I will not accept anyone controlling my choices for an Egyptian artist I stand with due to my confidence in his great talent and the love of the Egyptian audience for him... I will not be a cause of problems with anyone or enmity between me and my friends who support someone. I hope to be accepted as an artist and friend in the artistic works you assign to me, and I thank my colleagues for your trust in me, and I wish us all success, God willing."

It is worth noting that the Arab Music Festival is one of the largest music festivals in the Arab world, and a large number of singing stars from various Arab countries participated in it, including the artist Majida El Roumi, Assala, Saber Rebai, Marwan Khoury, Wael Jassar, Assi El Helani, Sherine Abdel Wahab, Angham, and others.