National Opera opens 2024/25 season at Dubai Opera

The opera Aida and the ballet Giselle - these two titles will open the 2024/25 season at Dubai Opera. In addition, the TW-ON orchestra will perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in a concert with the Dubai Festival Choir. This is a huge logistical undertaking for which the theatre has been preparing for the past months.

More than 300 people will travel to Dubai from our Theatre in 8 transfer groups. The first employees will fly out this Sunday, 8 September - they are the technical crew of the stage, who are responsible for assembling the scenery for Aida (performances on 13, 14 and 15 September). Dubai Opera's stage is smaller than ours; this means that TW-ON's studios have had to adapt elements of the scenery to other dimensions. Some of the costumes also had to be reworked, in this case for cultural context: extra material was sewn onto the temple dancers' costumes from Aida to cover the women's shoulders and bellies.

Scenery and costumes in huge containers (more than 12 metres long and 20 tonnes loaded) have been sailing to Dubai for the past two months. Interestingly, 9 of the 10 containers were taken up by the loading of Aida and only 1 by Giselle.

Two casts were recruited for the main, demanding parts in Aida (the title role, Amneris, Radames, Ramfis, Amonasro), while in the classic Giselle (performances on 18, 19, 20 and 21[x2] September), Dubai audiences will see three casts of Polish National Ballet artists (a total of about 70 dancers and dancers) in the leading roles.

The artists, together with the 90-plus-member TW-ON orchestra and an approximately 70-member choir, will perform under the baton of Patrick Fournillier.

On 22 September, our orchestra together with the Dubai Festival Choir will perform Ludwig van Beethoven's legendary Symphony No. 9, commemorating the 200th anniversary of the work.

This is not the first time we have received an invitation from Dubai Opera. In 2018, we travelled to the United Arab Emirates with Tchaikovsky's Onegin and Aida. Opened in 2016, the building was designed by Dane Janus Rostock (based on the model of a dhow - a traditional Arabian boat) and is capable of seating 2,000 people in the auditorium. The opera house is currently the most important arts centre in the Middle East, with artists and companies from all over the world coming here to show guest performances of theatre, ballet, opera or musicals, classical music concerts, exhibitions, fashion shows, conferences and other events.