The Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s 14th annual International Summer Festival is due to start on 29 July and will feature an opening concert by iconic Lebanese musician and oud master Marcel Khalife.

Khalife will be accompanied by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Orchestra under the baton of maestro Hisham Gabr.

Organised by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Arts Centre, this year’s edition will bring over 40 cultural events, ranging from music and theatre to film and traditional dance, to the Mediterranean city. 

The music programme promises a vibrant line-up with concerts by an array of established Egyptian singers and musicians including Hany Shaker, Ali El-Haggar, Omar Khairat, Hanan Madi and Mohamed Mohsen.

The festival line-up also includes performances by Arab and international singers and musicians, including celebrated Algerian singer Souad Massi who will close this year’s edition with a concert on 8 September, as well as Syrian singer Faya Younan, maestro Selim Sehab, and Lebanese musicians Tania Saleh and Rima Khcheich.

India will participate as guest of honor of this year’s edition of the festival. As such, Egyptian audiences will be treated to an array of traditional Indian dance performances and folk music concerts. 

Maestro Hisham Gabr asserted that the festival was founded to “add a unique and colorful taste to Alexandria’s summer,” adding that Bibliotheca Alexandrina’s Arts Centre “is adamant on presenting cultural productions that balance between new and classic forms of Egyptian art which still attract the different audience categories.”

The largest of its kind in the Mediterranean city, Bibliotheca's Summer Festival was inaugurated in 2002.

Following the 2011 revolution, the Bibliotheca's Summer Festival was challenged by the political and social instability, which resulted in numerous cancellations.

Its 12th edition in 2014 revived the event, boasting a programme that featured a large number of events stretched over a month, attracting over 20,000 visitors.

The number of visitors increased in the following year, 2015, when in its 13th edition the festival ran for five weeks. A packed line-up of 38 events included local and international music, films and performances of dance, theatre and folklore. The festival welcomed musicians from the Arab region, such as Ghalia Benali of Tunisian origin and Palestinian Kamilya Jubrann, among others. Lebanese singer Ghada Shbeir performed at the closing ceremony on 4 September 2015.

The 14th edition of the festival will take yet another a step forward: the festival will run for six weeks and will be packed with a large number of events.

Check the festival's programme here

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