The Dubai Opera will open on August 31 with a performance by the legendary Spanish tenor Placido Domingo. The purpose-built concert venue, in Downtown Dubai, announced the line-up for its first season, which runs until the end of 2016, and includes Domingo’s Three Tenors colleague, Catalan tenor Jose Carreras, who will bring his final tour, A Life in Music, to the UAE.
A list of 49 performances will include those by Grammy-winning sitar player and composer Anoushka Shankar, and Emirati singer Hussain Al Jassimi. A three-act opera called The Pearl Fishers, by the French composer Georges Bizet, will serve as an ode to Dubai’s heritage.
While opera lovers can enjoy Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, other highlights are Opera without Words, an evening of Italian Opera’s greatest overtures and interludes performed by the group Fondazione Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi and conducted by Francesco Quattrocchi.
Also look out for Giselle performed by The Russian State Ballet and Orchestra of Siberia, which is considered as one of the great romantic ballets. It was first performed in 1841 and focuses on the love of a peasant girl who dies of a broken heart after discovering her lover is betrothed to another.
Also by The Russian State Ballet and Orchestra of Siberia, Coppelia is set to Leo Delibes’ beautiful score. It is a family ballet based on a story by E.T.A. Hoffmann about an eccentric toymaker who has built a life-sized doll, Coppelia, and daydreams of her coming to life.
The Mozart Gala, performed by Vienna Concert Verein, will be followed by Postcards from Vienna, and Impossible, described as the ‘most dangerous show’ the city has ever seen, featuring illusionists on stage.
Spain’s Flamenco superstar, Sara Baras, comes to Dubai Opera with Voces, Suite Flamenca, a show that pays tribute to six flamenco luminaries. Audiences can also watch the acclaimed show The Nutcracker on Ice and theatrical spectacle Slava’s Snowshow.
Dates for all performances are yet to be announced. Tickets, which will be priced according to the shows, will be available at www.dubaiopera.com.
