The Cairo Choral Society, conducted by John Baboukis, will perform Handel’s Messiah on three evenings: 7 December at All Saints Cathedral in Zamalek, 8 December at the Ewart Memorial Hall of the American University in Cairo's (AUC) downtown campus, and 10 December at the British International School in 6th of October City.

Messiah — set to a text selected from the Bible by the composer and Charles Jennens — is one of the most popular Handel oratorios, performed especially around  Christmas time. For Egyptian audiences, Messiah is the first mark of the approaching Christmas season, during which the music world concentrates on compositions related to — or performed during — Christmas festivities.

The Cairo Choral Society was established in 1983 by Larry P Catlin with the purpose of understanding great works through performance. The choir operates under umbrella of AUC and its Performing and Visual Arts Department. The choir’s past repertoire includes Brahm’s Ein Deutches Requiem, Haydn’s Nelson Mass, Faure’s Requiem, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Schubert’s Stabat Mater, as well as works by Britten, Williams, Beethoven, Rossini, Puccini and many others. Last year, Haydn’s The Creation performed by the choir with great success.