The standing ovations with which the concerts of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra were met in both great halls of the Vienna Musikverein and Salzburg Mozarteum during its tour to Austria in May 2017, reaffirm the important role of the Orchestra as an eminent and unique cultural ambassador of Egypt, on the one hand, as well as its contribution as an important participant in enriching the serious music scene in Egypt. The Orchestra was founded in 1959 by the great Egyptian Renaissance man, Dr. Tharwat Okasha, during his tenure as Minister of Culture. Its first Principal Conductor Franz Litschauer was commissioned to develop its foregoing Egyptian Broadcasting Orchestra to a real symphony orchestra.

Since 1990, the Orchestra under its Music Director Maestro Ahmed El Saedi has succeeded in reaching new horizons on both the public and artistic levels. 

Works by Bruckner, Mahler, Ravel, Debussy, Bartók, Hindemith, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Roussel and Messiaen have become an integral part of the Orchestra’s basic repertoire. Since the integration of A Cappella Choir into the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, both have performed together major works for chorus and orchestra. Performances of Handel’s “Messiah”, Mozart’s “Requiem”, Verdi’s “Requiem”, Beethoven’s “Missa  Solemnis”, Ninth Symphony and Mass in C major, Brahms’ “German Requiem”, Dvořák’s “Stabat Mater”, Mahler’s Second Symphony, Haydn’s “The Creation” and Szymanowski’s “Stabat Mater Dolorosa” were the result of this cooperation.

The Cairo Symphony Orchestra, as part of its mission towards audience with no previous profound exposure to classical music heritage, also performs concerts dedicated to musical education and appreciation. These concerts are scheduled in two separate series under the title “School and Family Concerts”.   

The Cairo Symphony Orchestra has been conducted by many international guest conductors such as Charles Munch, Carlo Zecchi, Ottokar Truhlik, Ole Schmidt, Yehudi Menuhin, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Janos Kukla, Patrick Fournillier, Daniel Barenboim and others.

Among the soloists who have performed with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra are Rudolf Buchbinder, Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Joerg Demus, Ramzi Yassa, André Navarra, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Stefan Vladar, Christian Altenburger, Christiana Ortiz, Anastasia Chebotareva and Daniel Barenboim. The Orchestra under its Music Director, Ahmed El Saedi has released recordings of Beethoven’s five piano concertos and the “Choral Fantasy” featuring Ramzi Yassa as piano soloist and is about to release the complete nine symphonies on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the great composer. 

The Cairo Symphony Orchestra has regularly toured many European countries with great success. His last performances at the Vienna Musikverein, Salzburg Mozarteum and Berlin Konzerthaus were met with tremendous ovations. Principal conductors of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra since its residency at the Cairo Opera House in 1991 include Ahmed El Saedi (1991-2003), Sergio Cárdenas (2003-2004), Christophe Mueller (2004-2005), Steven Lloyd (2005-2007), Andreas Spörri (2007-2008), Marcello Mottadelli (2008-2011) and Jiří Petrdlík (2012-2014). 

Dr. Inès Abdel Daïm, the ex-Minister of Culture, former Chairman of the Cairo Opera House and Principal Flutist, was the Orchestra Director from 2003 till 2011.