Baalbeck International Festival is held at the Steps of Lebanon's historic Bacchus Temple (Photo: Reuters, 2010)
The upcoming edition of Baalbeck International Festival (BIF) will kick off on 7 July and will continue until 15 August, offering a handful of remarkable events, staged at the Steps of Lebanon's historic Bacchus Temple.
The opening evening, on 7 July, will celebrate the new generation of artists with Ramy Ayach, Aline Lahoud & Brigitte Yaghi. The following line up will feature the Beninese, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo (16 July), trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf (20 July), French piano trio Trio Wanderer (30 July), Moroccan-Egyptian Arabic pop singer Samira Said (4 August) and American rock band Toto (15 August).
Launched in 1955, BIF is the oldest festival dedicated to music in the MENA region. Though the usual line-up is not too compact with events taking place on weekly basis, the festival stresses on featuring the best known musicians, dancers, orhcestras, ballet and theatre troupes from the Arab and international artistic scene.
In its over 60 years history, the festival hosted names such as the Royal Ballet, Béjart Ballet Lausanne (Maurice Béjart), the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Caracalla Dance Theatre, Plácido Domingo, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Sting, Umm Kulthoum, Deep Purple, Comédie-Française among many other names renowned names.
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