A new season of Abu Dhabi Classics presented by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) begins this week with the first visit to the emirate by The West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO) for a night dedicated to 19th Century German composer Richard Wagner.

The concert on Thursday, October 6 at Emirates Palace is the first of many prestigious orchestras, ensembles and individual musicians who will perform at venues across the emirate throughout the season under the theme of 1,001 Nights.

Spectacular venues including Emirates Palace, Bin Hamooda Fort in Al Ain and Manarat Al Saadiyat on Saadiyat Island will all host Classics performances until May 2017.

Established in 1928, WASO is Western Australia’s largest and busiest performing arts organisation. With its reputation for excellence, engagement and innovation, the orchestra plays a central role in creating a culturally vibrant Western Australia.

WASO’s mission is to touch souls and enrich lives through music. Each year the orchestra inspires and entertains the people of Western Australia through its concert performances, regional tours, innovative education and community programmes, and its artistic partnerships with West Australian Opera and West Australian Ballet. The orchestra performs over 175 concerts annually to an audience in excess of 190,000.

WASO will be performing excerpts from some of Wagner’s most famous musical dramas, from Tristan and Isolde, a love story inspired by his own life, and from his romantic opera Lohengrin, based on the life of the artist. The orchestra, under the baton of celebrated English conductor Sir Richard Armstrong, will be accompanied by the world renowned tenor Simon O’Neill.

O’Neill is a principal artist with such prestigious opera houses as the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Convent Garden, La Scala and both the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals.

Craig Whitehead, Chief Executive of WASO, said: “The West Australian Symphony Orchestra is honoured and thrilled to be invited to open the TCA Abu Dhabi Classics 2016/17 season. This will be the first time a major Australian arts company has performed in the United Arab Emirates, and we are proud to be leading the way in developing relationships with cultural organisations in this important and fast-growing region.

“WASO has developed an enviable reputation for its performances of great Germanic repertoire, and thus we are delighted to present an all-Wagner programme in Abu Dhabi. This performance, led by distinguished guest conductor Sir Richard Armstrong and featuring acclaimed tenor Simon O'Neill, forms part of WASO's three-year Wagner project. We are delighted that audiences in Abu Dhabi will join us at the beginning of this exciting musical journey, and we are very much looking forward to performing for them at Emirates Palace.”

Sir Richard Armstrong, who was knighted in 2004, has most recently been involved with productions of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and Aida for Opera Australia in Sydney and Melbourne, Tristan und Isolde for Opéra de Nice, Fidelio with Opera North, The Makropulos Case, Weinberg’s The Passenger, Carmen, Madama Butterfly and Rigoletto for English National Opera and Peter Grimes in Tokyo as well as concerts with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Sao Paolo, Cambridge University Music Society, and Singapore Symphony Orchestra.  

Abu Dhabi Classics runs alongside the Emirati Music Series, Bait Al Oud concert series and Umsiyat, to make up the emirate’s Music Programme and aims to explore and understand the multiple artistic relations that have been built between the Arab and the Western world. This year’s Classics theme is 1,001 Nights.

Australian Ambassador to the UAE, H.E Arthur Spyrou, said: “I am excited to be attending my first Abu Dhabi Classics concert at Emirates Palace on October 6.  The Classics programme is a wonderful initiative that adds significantly to the cultural landscape of Abu Dhabi and this year it gives me great pleasure that it is being opened by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. The all-Wagner performance by the WASO will provide an Australian interpretation of a timeless classic to music lovers in the United Arab Emirates.”

For tickets and the programme of events for this season’s Abu Dhabi Classics: abudhabiclassics.ae

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