Some of what the choir does runs across many years: a repertoire, a tradition, a mission. These are the threads that tie the concerts together.
Since 2008
Songs in Arabic: the music of Sayed Darwish, Gamal Abdel Reheim and Awatef Abdel Kerim, arranged for choir by Nayer Nagui. The first concert, in 2008, met a remarkable reception. The programme won silver at Prague Voices in 2012 and a silver diploma at the World Choir Games in Sochi in 2016.
“Rearranging Darwish’s music was very special to me. In a way I feel like I’m fulfilling his dream.” Nayer Nagui
Since 2000
Where the choir began: about 70 amateur singers joined the Cairo Opera Company and the Cairo Opera Orchestra in Nagui’s carol arrangements in 2000. The concert has been given every year since, at the Cairo Opera House and the Sayed Darwish Theatre in Alexandria, and in recent years at Ewart Hall and across Cairo. December 2025 was the 26th.
Premieres
Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor (2015) and Beethoven’s Mass in C (2016) in their first Egyptian performances; Dvořák’s Stabat Mater (2022), Elgar’s The Light of Life (2023), Bach’s St John Passion (2025) and the world première of Lee Bradshaw’s Requiem “For those left behind” (2025).
Egypt and Germany · 2026–27
A German-Egyptian project, conducted by Bernhard Barth and Nayer Nagui, joining European choral music and the heritage of Ancient Egypt. The first two concerts were given with Havelkonsort and Canzoneo in Potsdam and Werder (Havel), Germany, in September 2026. Two concerts follow in Alexandria and Cairo on 4 and 5 June 2027; venues to be announced.
Across borders
Joint concerts with Les Voix du Choeur in Rabat, the Chœur régional Vittoria d’Île-de-France near Paris and at UNESCO, Dozan wa Awtar from Jordan, the Ayoub Sisters and the Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices; festivals in Prague, Sochi, Kuwait and Beijing.
2014 · 2017 · 2019
Helm El Nour (Dream of Light) trained talented young people aged 18 to 25, with concerts in Cairo, Assiut and Minya in 2014. The Rising Soloists concerts of 2017 and 2019 gave young singers their first stage with the choir and orchestra, from audition to concert.
Festivals, embassies, orchestras and partners can invite the choir or support a project.