UAE standing ovation for Wagner
Saturday, March 22, 2008
ITALIAN conductor Fabio Luisi, 48, led a top German orchestra two weeks ago in a performance in Abu Dhabi of works by German opera great Richard Wagner. Publicists for the Saxon State Orchestra of Dresden said the outing offered Abu Dhabi audiences a foretaste of what to expect when the emirate's new 270-hectare cultural district of Saadiyat Island opens.
The Abu Dhabi Wagner Society signed up the orchestra for the unprecedented performance in the Emirates Palace hotel and hopes it will be just the first of many.
Luisi became principal conductor last year of the orchestra, which marks its 460th birthday this year and says it is the oldest continuously operating orchestra in the world.
Abu Dhabi, the richest and biggest of the United Arab Emirates, has spent heavily on culture to match its booming urban development and business investments.
It has engaged top architects to design centrepiece buildings for the not-yet-begun Saadiyat Island project, which will make it a world cultural hub. Construction begins in 2012.
The spectacular Performing Arts Centre has been designed by Zaha Hadid and four museums, including a Guggenheim contemporary arts museum by Frank O Gehry and an offshoot of the Louvre art museum, will round it off.
"This is planned to last for generations," said Ahmed Hussein, deputy director of the Abu Dhabi tourist authority.
"It would not just be for the people of the Middle East but for the whole world."
Top acts are already being engaged by Abu Dhabi for warm-up performances and the Dresden orchestra was the one that the emirate most wanted, given solid local interest in Wagner.
The first Wagner Society in the Arab world was formed there in February 2007, and while French and German expats are the key founding members, local people are very much interested in classical music.
The fact that Richard Wagner (1813-1883) himself conducted the Saxon State Orchestra for many years makes it a top draw.
Germany-born Ronald Perlwitz, the society's secretary, explained why the Wagnerians came to Dresden, "If you're free to choose, you like to have the authentic thing."
Perlwitz is a languages teacher at the Sorbonne satellite campus in Abu Dhabi and says the city people are extremely open to culture from abroad.
That impressed the orchestra chief executive, Jan Nast, who dropped into Abu Dhabi recently and was immediately captivated by the hospitality. "It'll be a good experience for our musicians," he said.
"We do regard ourselves as ambassadors of culture and have made many friends abroad on other tours."
Nast is of course aware of the need to develop business in Asia — west and east — and is convinced it will not be long before Abu Dhabi becomes a prestigious place to perform.
Saxony is a state in formerly communist eastern Germany. Dresden and its concert hall were the site of the 1989 demonstrations that forced the communists out.
With such a historic heritage, the orchestra, which focuses on aural splendour and precision, is standing by for the day when Korea is re-unified. Who would be better qualified to play a top-notch unification concert?
The programme on March 8 at the US$2.5 billion ($3.5 billion) hotel comprised overtures and intermezzos from Wagner operas including Rienzi, Tristan and Isolde, and Tannhaeuser.
Hussein and others hope a long-term partnership will develop. "It would be a great honour to have this venerable orchestra come out to us regularly," he said.
DPA
The Abu Dhabi Wagner Society signed up the orchestra for the unprecedented performance in the Emirates Palace hotel and hopes it will be just the first of many.
Luisi became principal conductor last year of the orchestra, which marks its 460th birthday this year and says it is the oldest continuously operating orchestra in the world.
Abu Dhabi, the richest and biggest of the United Arab Emirates, has spent heavily on culture to match its booming urban development and business investments.
It has engaged top architects to design centrepiece buildings for the not-yet-begun Saadiyat Island project, which will make it a world cultural hub. Construction begins in 2012.
The spectacular Performing Arts Centre has been designed by Zaha Hadid and four museums, including a Guggenheim contemporary arts museum by Frank O Gehry and an offshoot of the Louvre art museum, will round it off.
"This is planned to last for generations," said Ahmed Hussein, deputy director of the Abu Dhabi tourist authority.
"It would not just be for the people of the Middle East but for the whole world."
Top acts are already being engaged by Abu Dhabi for warm-up performances and the Dresden orchestra was the one that the emirate most wanted, given solid local interest in Wagner.
The first Wagner Society in the Arab world was formed there in February 2007, and while French and German expats are the key founding members, local people are very much interested in classical music.
The fact that Richard Wagner (1813-1883) himself conducted the Saxon State Orchestra for many years makes it a top draw.
Germany-born Ronald Perlwitz, the society's secretary, explained why the Wagnerians came to Dresden, "If you're free to choose, you like to have the authentic thing."
Perlwitz is a languages teacher at the Sorbonne satellite campus in Abu Dhabi and says the city people are extremely open to culture from abroad.
That impressed the orchestra chief executive, Jan Nast, who dropped into Abu Dhabi recently and was immediately captivated by the hospitality. "It'll be a good experience for our musicians," he said.
"We do regard ourselves as ambassadors of culture and have made many friends abroad on other tours."
Nast is of course aware of the need to develop business in Asia — west and east — and is convinced it will not be long before Abu Dhabi becomes a prestigious place to perform.
Saxony is a state in formerly communist eastern Germany. Dresden and its concert hall were the site of the 1989 demonstrations that forced the communists out.
With such a historic heritage, the orchestra, which focuses on aural splendour and precision, is standing by for the day when Korea is re-unified. Who would be better qualified to play a top-notch unification concert?
The programme on March 8 at the US$2.5 billion ($3.5 billion) hotel comprised overtures and intermezzos from Wagner operas including Rienzi, Tristan and Isolde, and Tannhaeuser.
Hussein and others hope a long-term partnership will develop. "It would be a great honour to have this venerable orchestra come out to us regularly," he said.
DPA
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