For several weeks now, it has been impossible to walk the streets of Paris without coming across the smiling and tanned face of Omar Harfouch (55), a mysterious Lebanese multimillionaire not widely known to the public but who enjoys influence because some of the most powerful people on the planet are on his agenda. Posters with his face line the streets of the city center announcing a concert for peace that he himself, a accomplished pianist, will give this Wednesday18 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. Of Lebanese origin, the businessman knows the ins and outs of Moscow, is close to Carole Moseley-Braun - the first African-American woman elected to the United States Senate, rubs shoulders with emirs in Dubai, is invited every year to the Amfar Gala in Cannes to raise money for AIDS research, and even organized the 2002 Miss World Net final in Tripoli with the attendance of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, despite the international embargo imposed on the country at that time. In this mix of dictators and liberators, it seems that Harfouch is a man of concord. This is demonstrated by his international conferences and, above all, by music. In addition to being a pianist, the businessman is also a composer trained in the Soviet Union, where he also studied diplomacy. This Wednesday, he will perform at the Concert for Peace at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées alongside the Béziers Méditerranée Orchestra composed of 30 opera singers and 66 musicians, including the great violinist Anne Gravoin. The conductor is Maestro Mathieu Bonnin and the arranger is Houtaf Khoury. There are no tickets for sale. Harfouch himself has reserved the 1,900 seats of this art deco temple for family, friends, politicians, businessmen, and celebrities like Juliette Binoche, Laetitia Casta, or Patricia Kaas.
For the occasion, he has decorated tout Paris with advertisements for the concert. An unprecedented display. But it's worth it. Harfouch claims to use music as a force for good with the aim of promoting global harmony. In several interviews, he has stated that with the Concert for Peace, he wants to "build bridges where there are divisions and create moments that connect us all using music as our universal language." Two days after his Parisian appointment, he will perform at the United Nations in Geneva. His fortune is said to be mysterious, perhaps its origin is. However, he and his brother Walid founded the media group Supernova in Ukraine and a company based in Switzerland to organize fashion and beauty events in Ukraine. Additionally, Omar is the director and founder of the Russian magazine Paparazzi and last year he acquired the French magazine Entrevue.
In France, he became known in 2006 with the reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! and since then, his face has become familiar in French homes. Every time he speaks, he makes a statement. He is particularly involved in two major issues such as the environment and the fight against corruption, especially in his country of birth. He likes to take risks for the sake of harmony. Recently, he founded the Lebanese Third Republic party, whose mission is to seek a secular, non-confessional, non-sectarian state based on the values of liberal democracy, justice, and equality. This has made him unpopular in this Middle Eastern country.
For a few years now, he has been married to Yulia Lebova, with whom he founded the international channel HDFashion & LifeStyle in 2023. They have a daughter, a girl named Gustavia, but he is also the father of another daughter named Najwa, a socialite and founder of the intimate care brand Wumi. The relationship between father and daughter is one of absolute complicity. In an interview for the portal Levelshoes, the young woman highlighted that on one occasion "my father took me to an old chapel where it was written Tout par amour, Rien par la force (Everything for love, nothing by force)". Among the things they enjoy doing together, they highlight talking about "life, history, politics, nature, and dream projects. We also like to swim together in the summer." In early September, Kevin Costner presented him with the Award for Best Achievement for Peace at the Venice Film Festival. Among the attendees at the event was also Susan Sarandon.