The 760 events took place at multiple stages of the Cairo Opera House, the Alexandria Opera House (Sayed Darwish Theatre in Alexandria), and the Damanhour Opera House, in addition to El-Gomhoreya Theatre and Sayed Darwish Theatre in Cairo.
The highest number of attendees was recorded at performances held on the Cairo Opera House's main stage, small hall, open-air theatre, and fountain theatre. These stages hosted music events, ballet and opera performances, cultural salons, poetry evenings, intellectual seminars, a cinema club, and other activities.
According to Lamia Zayed, chairwoman of the Cairo Opera House, last season featured performances by numerous international troupes as part of the creative cooperation between Egypt and these countries.
These included the Felidi Dance Company (Hungary), the Greek National Ballet, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra (Russia), the Spanish dance company Ibérica de Danza, the Cairo Steps band (Germany-Egypt), the El-Zaher Bebars troupe (Kazakhstan), the Rajeev Raja Jazz Band (India), the Rembetiko Music Concert (Greece), a guitar recital by Miguel Trápaga (Spain), a singing recital by Lívia Nestrovski and Fred Ferreira (Brazil), and the modern dance troupe Goblin Party (Korea), among others.
Additionally, local troupes have given numerous concerts and performances. The Cairo Symphony Orchestra, for instance, gave nearly 30 concerts in its 65th season this year at the Opera's main hall, many of which were conducted by the orchestra's principal conductor and music director, Ahmed El-Saedi.
An equal number of chamber and small ensemble concerts, as well as solo recitals, were performed by musicians across other halls, featuring music by Western composers and their Arab counterparts.
Recitals were particularly prominent, with artists providing more than 100 evenings featuring solo guitar, oud, flute, piano, and singing recitals. These were topped with showcases from young students enrolled in various classes at the Opera's Talents Development Centre.
Numerous renowned musicians performed on the opera stages with their ensembles, including Omar Khairat, Hisham Kharma, Ahmed Rabie, Manal Mohie Eldin, Dina El-Wedidi, Yehya Khalil, Amr Selim, Medhat Saleh, Ali El-Haggar, Hany Shenouda, Nesma Abdel Aziz, Hany Shaker, Saad El-Oud, among many others presenting a variety of music genres.
The Cairo Opera Company had its share of shows, including operas such as The Magic Flute, Carmen, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Masquerade, The Impresario, as well as special galas and evenings featuring well-known arias.
Meanwhile, the Cairo Opera Ballet Company's 2023-2024 season showcased Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Cleopatra, The Nutcracker, and Cinderella.
Stages outside the capital, such as the Alexandria Opera House and Damanhour Opera House, presented a significant number of their local talents and orchestras and occasionally hosted artists from Cairo.
The Opera's activities also attracted additional audiences to festivals held on its different stages. These included the Cairo Short Film Festival, the International Symposium of Arts for People with Special Needs, the Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre, and the Cairo Monodrama Festival.
These numbers of audiences and activities were revealed by Zayed and Nevine El-Kilany, who served as the culture minister from 13 August 2022 to 2 July 2024, before being succeeded by Ahmed Hanno on 3 July.
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