Abu Dhabi Festival announced today the pre-festival performance of its 16th annual cultural and artistic festival. Two-time Grammy winner and globally renowned American mezzo-soprano opera singer, Joyce DiDonato, will make her Arab World debut as she takes to the stage at Emirates Palace on 24 January 2019, performing In War & Peace: Harmony Through Music.

Joined by the Italian orchestra Il Pomo d’Oro, led by the Russian chief conductor Maxim Emelyanychev, DiDonato will perform a collection of Baroque opera arias by Handel, Purcell, Jommelli, and Monteverdi that explore war and peace, both external and internal. Born of a personal project to create a set of little-known Neapolitan Baroque opera arias, In War & Peace: Harmony Through Music is DiDonato’s eloquent and moving plea for world peace in a modern, turbulent and violent era, and was first produced as an album in 2016.

The performance will mark the first of Abu Dhabi Festival’s extensive calendar for 2019 and, with world-class artists in tow, sustains the best of opera, ballet, orchestra, jazz, and dance entwining qualities of excellence and tradition, experimentation and innovation - all of which exemplify Abu Dhabi Festival’s vision as it strives, each year, to further its symphony of global cultures.

Embedding this harmony of cultural excellence and exchange has informed each and every event since the Festival began 16 years ago. Today it encompasses the annual March celebration of arts and culture here at home in the UAE, and extends year round with special events such as this evening’s concert, reaching international audiences through international commissions and collaborations.

The full Abu Dhabi Festival line-up of headline performances, calendar of youth platforms and community programmes, exhibitions, and workshops will be announced in December.

The Abu Dhabi Festival is presented and organised by Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation. ADMAF is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that seeks to nurture the arts, education, culture and creativity for the benefit of society and advancement of Abu Dhabi’s cultural vision.

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