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The Emirates Palace Auditorium, for just a few enthralling hours, became J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth. The audience re-lived the epic adventures of Frodo, Sam, Gandalf and their friends as the breathtaking score from the Oscar-winning film trilogy soared, swooped, and swept them along on a magnificent musical journey that few will easily forget. The triumphs, heartaches, sacrifices, love and ultimate peace were all vividly re-constructed for a widely diverse audience. Young and old, students, families and friends reveled in the magnificent music and voices before them.
The Lord of the Rings Symphony: Six Movements for Orchestra and Chorus was composed by the Oscar and Grammy-winning Howard Shore. This glorious music was brought to Abu Dhabi under the masterful baton of the hugely successful Markus Huber, conducting the world-renowned German Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. He has already thrilled audiences in Canada, Greece, Singapore, Germany and the United States with this enchanting symphony and the audience in Abu Dhabi was no exception.
The work’s vast scope required a symphony orchestra, mixed chorus, boys’ chorus and instrumental and vocal soloists singing in the Tolkien-created languages of Quenya, Sindarin, Khuzul, Adunaic, Black Speech and Old and Modern English. Solo instrumentalists and vocalists brought the total to more than 200 musicians on stage, drawing from the nearly 12 hours of music that Shore composed for the phenomenally successful film trilogy.
The German Philharmonic Orchestra was joined by a plethora of talent from both East and West, including the youthful and talented United Abu Dhabi Children’s Chorus, The highly respected and well-known Abu Dhabi Chamber Choir, The Bulgarian Orpheus Choir Sofia, under the guidance of Prof. Krum Maximov, professor of choral conducting at the Bulgarian State Music Academy in Sofia and the Al Khubairat Singers, directed by the prominent Jonathan Lyall.
This was no mere musical spectacle; it was that rare thing - a true feast for the senses.
An initiative of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, the Abu Dhabi Classics concert series runs every season from October to May and features an extraordinary line-up of world-class artists with monthly events held in exquisite settings across the emirate. In partnership with some of the world’s most distinguished musical organizations, Abu Dhabi Classics is also initiating a number of innovative education programmes, developed through close co-operation with schools, universities and other institutions, which will take place under the aegis of the Abu Dhabi Classics Academy. The Academy, representing an entire world surrounding the concerts, will build bridges between artists and audiences, between generations and between cultures.
For regular updates and news from Abu Dhabi Classics, you can access our e-magazine online at www.adach.ae/adclassics/magazine/. Tickets are available at Virgin Megastores and can be purchased online at www.timeouttickets.com, or by calling the toll free number 800–4669.
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