Successive crises surround the Arab Music Festival.. The resignation of the head of the Egyptian Opera

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In a sudden and unexpected way, artistic crises surrounded the Arab Music Festival in its 34th session, which was supposed to be held between the 20th and 30th of October in Cairo, where the crisis developed with the resignation of the head of the Opera House after the withdrawal of major artists from participating in the festival.

Crises began to surface after the press conference chaired by Reda El-Wakil, head of the Egyptian Opera House, yesterday, Wednesday, where he announced the details of the new edition of the Arab Music Festival. However, during his speech, he pointed out some of the challenges facing the festival, the most important of which is the weak budget. After that, the artist Mohamed Tharwat came out and announced his withdrawal from participating in that edition, even though it bears the name of his travel companion and close friend, the late artist Hani Shaker.

Tharwat revealed that the reason for his withdrawal was his rejection of some of the practices that occur within the festival, as he expressed this through a post he wrote on his Facebook account in which he said: “I will not accept and will not participate in insulting Egyptian art or Egyptian artists, and accordingly... I have decided not to participate in the Arab Music Festival for the year 2026.”

The withdrawal of Muhammad Tharwat was like a stone thrown into stagnant water. It was followed, within a few hours, by the withdrawal of the great singer Ali Al-Hajjar, who also announced his withdrawal, saying in a post on Facebook: “I apologized for participating in this year’s Arab Music Festival, and it is the first time that I will not participate since the establishment of the festival.”

He added: "The real reason is that the opera house adopted a weak and humiliating financial budget for the members of the orchestra accompanying me, which I did not accept, and it is the fact that the president of the opera house neglected to talk about in the press conference."

In addition to these withdrawals, a source from within the Arab Music Festival revealed in statements to Al Arabiya.net that there were a number of artists who apologized for participating in the 34th round of the festival, when the festival’s management contacted them to perform some concerts within its activities.

The source added that among the apologetic artists were artists Mai Farouk, Ahmed Saad, Mohamed Mohsen and others, which made the festival management quickly search for alternatives.

All of these events put the president of the Egyptian Opera House in a major crisis, which prompted 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 customs and methods that I hope will not return, and which within a short period of time I began to modify them for our interests, and I have already begun to successfully change some behaviors and actions whose presence I have not and will not accept throughout my period of presidency of this great edifice, the Egyptian Opera House is our second home... I apologize to you.”

He added: “I was hoping to be with you until the end of my appointment period, because I have the ability to change, but I will not accept that anyone control my choices for an Egyptian artist whom I stand with because of my confidence in his great talent and the Egyptian public’s love for him... I will not cause problems with anyone or hostility between me and my friends who support anyone. Please accept my presence with you as an artist and friend in the artistic works that you assign 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 Magda Al-Roumi, Asala, Saber Al-Rubai, Marwan Khoury, Wael Jassar, Assi Al-Halani, Sherine Abdel Wahab, Angham and others.