Tuesday, Aug 30, 2016

Dubai: It’s hard to keep count of every hotel, restaurant or shop constructed in Dubai. Blink once and there’s an empty lot in front of you. Blink again and there’s a riot of orange cranes bringing you the biggest something in the world.

And yet, few prospective openings have been as keenly anticipated as that of Dubai Opera on Wednesday night. The looming, sparkling giant of a thing with its nose jutting out ahead of it — akin to a ship moored proudly at dock — is the first opera house in the UAE.

Longstanding champions of the local arts scene say it signifies a new era for the city.

“They’ve very cleverly worked out that having an opera house is a kind of mark of civilisation. It instantly puts you in the Rome, Milan, Venice, London, Paris, Moscow league, doesn’t it?” said Danielle Nay, general manager of The Fridge in Al Quoz, a venue known for its classical concert series.

Nay moved to Dubai in 2007. She recalls being told that ‘the real culture’ is in Abu Dhabi. Not anymore. She has tickets to see the Romantic ballet Giselle at Dubai Opera next month, as well as the theatrical spectacle Slava’s Snowshow with her godson at Christmas time.

“We have friends who have gone to live in Singapore over Dubai, because they think it’s richer in culture. Not that the perceptions of the city are bad, but there are a lot of people who think it’s a cultural vacuum, and [Dubai Opera] is a big statement,” she said.

The 2,000-capacity venue, located in Downtown Dubai, kicks off its first season with Spanish tenor Placido Domingo. Many tried and failed to get tickets to the sold-out show, including Emirati music teacher Tala Badri.

Badri, who runs The Centre for Musical Arts (CMA) and describes herself as ‘the only female Emirati music graduate’, has plans to see West Side Story at the venue in February.

“Obviously, I’m a musician and a music educator, so from that perspective, I really hope that it will encourage more people into that stream. I hope that it will encourage a lot more students and younger people to be excited about the arts,” she said.

She has already reached out to Dubai Opera in hopes of collaborating. She’s also concerned their ticket prices could alienate the youth. Tickets for most shows begin at Dh250, while VIP boxes can exceed Dh5,000 in cost.

“In other parts of the world, they offer student tickets, for example, and concessions for students and younger people, which they are not offering here. I’m hoping that they don’t price it out of the market, so that younger people can also go in, see and experience that part of it,” she said.

Rashmi Kotriwala, co-founder of the community theatre venue The Junction, shared Badri’s enthusiasm and concerns.

“Dubai means excitement to the world. It’s a beautiful step — Dubai Opera, Bollywood Parks [an upcoming amusement park]. So many different entertainment options coming up,” she said.

“The only thing is, I wonder how many people would be able to afford going to an opera. As it is, things are expensive. So Dubai Opera, I don’t think, is meant for the masses,” she said.

The Junction, which opened last year, charges an average of Dh100 or less per ticket, though Kotriwala points out that community theatre is a ‘different genre altogether’. She said Dubai Opera is catered more toward the elite.

“The masses still need a The Junction or Ductac or Madinat [Theatre],” she said.

“It’s definitely more accessible for entertainment purposes than Dubai Opera. But I insist that it is a beautiful infrastructure. Let’s hope they can keep it going, and that a lot of shows come [through].”

Jasper Hope, chief executive of Dubai Opera, told tabloid! in April that he expects to put on at least 200 shows, annually, for the first two years. That’s half of what he averaged at the well-established Royal Albert Hall in London.

Hope has been lauded for his programming thus far, with more than 49 events announced. The schedule has something for everyone, according to Nay, and will pull in residents and tourists alike.

“It’s not too high-brow. It’s very accessible, it’s very exclusive. It’s popular but there’s nothing stupid about it. It’s very smart programming,” she said.

“Jasper is ex-Royal Albert Hall. The programming there was very similar and they always had a full house — because at the end of the day, this is a business. It’s not a charity, it’s commercially-driven. It seems to me they have the balance just right.”

Badri agreed. The first West End show she attended in London was Les Miserables, which is still running after three decades. This summer, she went to her eighth showing of it with her daughter. In November, it lands at Dubai Opera; Badri’s mother will attend, though; Badri draws the line at nine shows.

“In terms of programming, they’ve programmed very cleverly,” she said. “They’ve picked things to cover a very wide range of audiences.”

The lack of home-grown content, however, has caused concern.

Janet Hassouneh, the founder of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), a collective of more than 100 UAE-based musicians, described Hope as ‘absolutely perfect for the job’. She spoke to him during his research into the industry. But she noticed a lack of programming coming out of the UAE. Hussain Al Jassmi, a singer-songwriter performing in October, is the only notable Emirati talent being advertised.

“It’s all outsourced. One of the things that I joked with Jasper, I said, ‘Well, you know, Jasper, if you’re stuck for an orchestra, get in touch with NSO. We’d be more than happy to help you out,’” said Hassouneh.

“We would love to be asked. We did phenomenal concerts last season with Andrea Bocelli in the du Arena for over 10,000 people. There was a very important shaikh in the audience, who was amazed that we were not the touring orchestra for Bocelli.”

The NSO needs little time for rehearsal due to their level of musicianship, said Hassouneh, but they are all restricted by day jobs, and can only be booked on weekends, or after 6pm on workdays.

Badri said it would be a long time before people viewed classical music as a vocation here. She believed Dubai Opera would see “more Emiratis taking up music as a hobby or as something to fulfil their lives”.

Her students include Emiratis and Arabs, but 90 per cent of them are expatriates. She’s seen changes already.

“We were honoured [on Sunday] for Emirati Women’s Day, by her excellency [Reem Ebrahim Al Hashemi, Minister of State for International Cooperation]. I was there with 60 other Emirati women, and so many of them came and said, ‘Oh, I want to come with my kids, I want to bring my kids to music lessons’,” she said.

“That was such a wonderful thing to hear, because ten years ago, I didn’t hear that.”

Hassouneh, a former opera singer herself, said the true test of any venue is its acoustics. Some stages around the globe have dead and live spots, while some provide a sound so consistently crisp and clear that a singer or soloist could hear themselves out in the hallway over the boom of the orchestra.

“Isn’t the first performer Placido?” she asked. “This guy, he’s got a Boeing 747 voice — you can hear him all the way to LA. That will be a good test of the acoustics. How well can you hear him?”

We’ll have to wait and see.

By Marwa Hamad Staff Reporter Gulf News 2016. All rights reserved.