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28-04-2024
RIYADH: The first grand opera to be produced in Saudi Arabia has had its opening performance in Riyadh, part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s massively ambitious plans to shift the kingdom into a new era, economically and socially.
Zarqa Al Yamama is the story of a blue-eyed tribal matriarch with the gift of foreseeing the future in pre-Islamic Arabia.
Her predictions of imminent danger are ignored by her tribe, a story with a universal resonance according to Ivan Vukcevic, head of Arabian Opera. The company was set up in Switzerland to help develop the performance and teaching of classical music in the Middle East.
“At its core lies the central female heroine with an extraordinary gift of foresight, advocating for reason and love in the face of adversity, even at the expense of her own life,” he says. Describing it as an epic tragedy familiar to many in the Arabic-speaking world.
When the idea of a lavish new opera in Arabic was first presented two years ago, Vukcevic and his company were initially taken aback and puzzled.
They wondered how the Arabic language, which is written from right to left, could be integrated into Western classical music notation which goes from left to right. But the standardized Romanization of Arabic helped resolve the issue.
The Arabic libretto has been written by Saudi poet Saleh Zamanan, while the music is by Australian composer Lee Bradshaw.
“The brief, as I understood it, was this was to be a Western opera with an influence of Arabic and particularly Saudi music,” Bradshaw explains.
He said he used the rhythmic quality of Zamanan’s poetry as the basis for the music.
“I actually began the whole process by doing a rhythmic dictation of every line of poetry that we used in the opera. And that became the basis for the setting of all the vocal lines. And from there I sort of worked top down to orchestrate,” he said.
British opera singer Dame Sarah Connolly is playing the title role of Zarqa Al Yamama and says she had sleepless nights worrying about singing in Arabic. She spent months working with a Saudi language tutor.
“I felt listening to Lee’s music that he’s really beautifully made it recognizable using lots of Arabic sounds that they’ll be used to hearing in popular music, various… musical tropes, recognizable modalities, and so on, and all instruments that they’ll have heard before, like the Ney flute and the oud guitar,” she said.
Paolo Petrocelli, who is currently head of Dubai Opera, has played a key role in developing the art form in the Middle East and says that the creation of Zarqa Al Yamama is part of a wider trend in the region.
He says the wider Gulf region has “witnessed a remarkable evolution in opera theatre” that reflects a growing appreciation for performing arts. Investments in state-of-the-art venues and cultural initiatives have seen the region become a “dynamic hub for opera” that is able to attract top talent and stage immersive productions, he says.
“This development underscores the region’s commitment to fostering artistic expression and enriching its cultural landscape.”
There are opera houses in Cairo, Damascus, Muscat and Dubai and Saudi Arabia is also building a state of the art opera house as part of the redevelopment of the historic Diriyah district in Riyadh.
The Saudi investment in developing its cultural heft in the region and beyond matches similar efforts in sport and other sectors. And there’s no doubt that there has been a genuine transformation by no means welcomed by all Saudis in many aspects of day-to-day life in the country. (Int’l News Desk)
