Dubai: For the past 15 years, free concerts have entertained more than 82,000 classical music lovers in Dubai. The Dubai Concert Committee was established in 1996, to contribute to culture in the emirate and has succeeded in putting on ten professional classical music concerts a year.
The first recital held by the Dubai Concert Committee took place on January 8, 1996, and hosted Dutch pianist Martijn Van Den Hoek.
On Thursday night the 150th concert was staged at a celebration of the Committee's anniversary, with a performance by Hungarian pianist Gergely Boganyi.
On the map
"Our wish and goal is be to bring more world known artist[s], and of course orchestras to Dubai and to place Dubai onto the map for internationally known music events," Brigitta Dagostin, Chair of the non-profit Committee told Gulf News.
Classical music is a "very important" part of the arts, she continued, as the "backbone of every piece of music we hear today.
"It developed over hundreds of years to reach the diversity and different styles known to us today. The arts are complementing each other; if you look at a painting you can hear music.
During the past classical music and visual arts developed in parallel, inspired and complemented each other and are very often mixed together," Dagostin said.
The organisation is entirely supported by its corporate sponsors, individual sponsors and in-kind contributions, including the committee volunteers.
Patronage
It has received continuous support from the patronage of Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman and CEO of Emirates Group.
Concerts are in high-demand, the Chair said, and draw high interest from various nationalities of all age groups. Often the demand exceeds the capacity for the venue.
According to Dagostin, there is a lack of a good, accessible location for classical music to be performed in the emirate: "At the moment there is no place where a big orchestra could perform or Opera could be played."
Sold out
However, she continued, very positive steps have been taken in Abu Dhabi regarding the classical music industry, with almost every concert selling out.
In each year's programme, the Committee aims to cover a range of composers, periods of music, a selection of instruments and combinations, and musicians from several countries.
Performances range in scale from soloists to chamber orchestras, and periods from the 12th to 21st centuries.
To date, musicians have flown in from Europe, the USA, Asia and Australia.
