Brazilian music legend Sérgio Mendes, conductor Riccardo Muti and violin virtuoso Anne-Sophie Mutter are among the names announced for next year’s Abu Dhabi Festival, the event dedicated to music, culture, arts and theatre.
To run from March 3 to April 2 at the Emirates Palace, with a majority of events being free to the public, about 140 events are set to take place involving 40 different productions across the seven Emirates.
“As each year passes, the Abu Dhabi Festival embeds itself in the very fabric of society. It is not simply an event. It is a creative experience that is anticipated and embraced by the people of the UAE,” said the festival’s founder and artistic director, Hoda Al Khamis-Kanoo of Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation. The majority of events take place at Emirates Palace in the capital, and in past years have sold out.
“The myriad platforms upon which we invite the nation’s most creative minds and the world’s greatest artists to perform, exhibit and exchange are unrivalled incubators of great ideas, sowing the seeds of invention across our beloved nation and beyond, so that tomorrow we may reap the benefits.”
Italian Muti will conduct German violinist Mutter and his Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra on March 25. Italy is the festival’s country of honour.
Calling his country “the natural bridge between Europe and the Arab world,” the Ambassador of Italy to the United Arab Emirates, Giorgio Starace, spoke about the honour. “The partnership between Italy and the UAE has grown a lot over the last few years, economically, politically, and culturally. Italy is a cultural superpower, Italian culture is a treasure of mankind, and I am sure the idea of selecting Italy as the honour country is one of the most important suggestions that comes from the great vision of Madame Kanoo.”
Also featuring at the festival will be the screening of The Brain That Sings, a film directed and produced by Emirati filmmaker Amal Al Agroobi, about two autistic boys, Khalifa who lives in Dubai, and Mohammad, in Abu Dhabi. “The film follows them through three months of music therapy. We wanted to see if music therapy would help either Mohammad or Khalifa and by the end of the film we find out how it sort of helps,” Amal told tabloid! on Tuesday.
Amal also spoke of the benefits behind the screening of the film at the Abu Dhabi Festival, allowing the film to reach a different audience. “The film hasn’t screened in Abu Dhabi before, so to have a public screening of the film in Abu Dhabi we’re going to be reaching the people who are in Abu Dhabi. Maybe they have a different mindset, or maybe they have a different feeling towards autism, so it will be interesting to see a new audience and how they receive the film.”
Other acts involved in next year’s line-up include Lebanese-American singer Mayssa Karaa, whose song White Rabbit featured on the Oscar-nominated film American Hustle. She performs with UK singer-songwriter Marcus Nand as a special guest, on the closing night, April 2.
“Some of the songs that we’re working on for my album will definitely be showcased, a lot of songs that I wrote myself and collaborated with other artists will also be featured,” Karaa said in an interview. “The show will be divided into different sections, in the beginning I’ll be singing traditional Arabic music. Then we will transport the audience to the world of fusion, and then to the world of rock and contemporary music.”
Brazilian bossa nova musician Mendes, makes his Gulf debut on March 20), while The Budapest Festival Orchestra, conducted by Gabor Takacs-Naygy, will perform with Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez in an event called A Night At The Opera on March 23.
The Orchestra’s founder, Ivan Fischer, takes over conducting duties on March 26 with Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes plays Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 5; and on March 28 and 30 for concert performances of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. On March 24, pianist Jan Lisiecki performs an evening of Chopin Etudes.
Art features include two new commissions by Fatma Lootah and Noor Al Suwaidi. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will be the charity beneficiary.
New to the festival this year are intimate concerts by young classical musicians: Pianists Ah Reum Ahn (March 3) and Julian Libeer (March 13) and violinist Aisha Syed Castro (March 17). Workshops with the musicians will take place at schools, universities and music centres.
