PROGRAMME

Gifted Emirati composer Ihab Darwish’s new work, in collaboration with Emmy-winning composer John Debney and Academy Award-winning composer David Shire, celebrates the historic opening of the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi. Bringing together top international composers, musicians and vocal ensembles from Christian, Jewish and Muslim backgrounds, the symphony celebrates unity and peace amongst different faiths.

The UAE’s brightest young musicians will perform a repertoire of Paganini and Dvorak, conducted by Maestro Riad Kudsi and featuring young virtuoso violinists Himari Yoshimura and Natsuho Muratad.

With classical music pieces from Spain in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as a selection of Baroque compositions, critically acclaimed Spanish pianist Daniel Ligorio is accompanied by the castanets of Belén Cabanes and the dance of Loli Molina.

In an evening of Spanish music for violin and piano, this world-class duet takes inspiration from early twentieth-century music and beyond.

A refined three-part dialogue between musical masters, the Paolo Fresu Trio performs with great emotional impact and intimate cerebral connection.

Aida is one of Teatro Real’s most monumental and emblematic productions. A restored and updated version revives the brilliant composer Giuseppe Verdi’s powerful tale of love and betrayal. Conducted by Maestro Nicola Luisotti, with stage direction and set and costume design by Hugo de Ana, the opera features star performers soprano Krassimira Stoyanova, tenor Piotr Beczała, baritone Carlos Álvarez and mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton.

Continuing a rich history of collaboration, Abu Dhabi Festival will collaborate with Festival Aix-en-Provence on a new production, spectacular in its avant-garde staging and extremely grand in scale, that will enthrall the global opera audience.

Exploring the majesty, might, and mystery of nature through both arresting and evocative music and theatrical effects, accomplished mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato takes audiences on an emotional journey, performed by the unique historically informed instrumentation of orchestra il Pomo d’Oro with French stage director Marie Lambert-Le Bihan.

Emirati composer Ihab Darwish will tour China following the hugely successful musical projects Waves of My Life and Hekayat: Symphonic Tales in the UAE and virtually, both commissioned and produced by Abu Dhabi Festival.

A journey from loss to hope and reconciliation by innovative composers Qoutayba Neaimi and Judith Adler de Oliveira begins with mourning for the victims of war, followed by an atonement filled with peace and cultural tolerance.

A week-long celebration of diverse Arab music in Berlin’s iconic, Frank Gehry-designed music hall, the Pierre Boulez Saal features a line-up of influential Arab music artists.

Beginning with a visual art exhibition, literature festival and musical performance, Abu Dhabi Festival is partnering with the Middle East Institute in an innovative ongoing collaboration to strengthen US-UAE cultural ties. In 2022, this diverse range of activities includes an exhibition of contemporary art by leading Middle Eastern artists whose work explores the impact of climate change on their communities and natural environment, and the need for greater sustainability.

In partnership with the Embassy of Japan to the UAE, Abu Dhabi Festival will showcase 42 prints produced by 10 prominent Japanese contemporary painters, including Yayoi Kusama, Masanari Murai and Yasukazu Tabuchi, who explored a wide range of possibilities through prints and expanded the range of expression in contemporary art using the print medium in the 1970s.

A unique exhibition of visual art will show how artists from different cultural backgrounds with strong religious traditions, such as the UAE, Israel, Germany, India, Italy and other Arab countries, illuminate the idea of a new wave of spirituality.

In partnership with Ewa’a Shelter for Women and Children, a series of talks were hosted at the Expo 2020 Women’s Pavilion with international experts on humanitarian issues involving violence towards women. Aimed at strengthening awareness of violence and abuse, the talks explored what we can do as individuals, as a nation and as a community to make changes for a more violence-free world.

A rich programme of talks, performances and workshops around the Portrait of a Nation II: Beyond Narratives exhibition will take place in a dedicated activation space within the exhibition, as well as in a hybrid digital format.

Aida is one of Teatro Real’s most monumental and emblematic productions. A restored and updated version revives the brilliant composer Giuseppe Verdi’s powerful tale of love and betrayal. Conducted by Maestro Nicola Luisotti, with stage direction and set and costume design by Hugo de Ana, the opera features star performers soprano Krassimira Stoyanova, tenor Piotr Beczała, baritone Carlos Álvarez and mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton.

Continuing a rich history of collaboration, Abu Dhabi Festival will collaborate with Festival Aix-en-Provence on a new production, spectacular in its avant-garde staging and extremely grand in scale, that will enthrall the global opera audience.

Exploring the majesty, might, and mystery of nature through both arresting and evocative music and theatrical effects, accomplished mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato takes audiences on an emotional journey, performed by the unique historically informed instrumentation of orchestra il Pomo d’Oro with French stage director Marie Lambert-Le Bihan.

Gifted Emirati composer Ihab Darwish’s new work, in collaboration with Emmy-winning composer John Debney and Academy Award-winning composer David Shire, celebrates the historic opening of the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi. Bringing together top international composers, musicians and vocal ensembles from Christian, Jewish and Muslim backgrounds, the symphony celebrates unity and peace amongst different faiths.

The UAE’s brightest young musicians will perform a repertoire of Paganini and Dvorak, conducted by Maestro Riad Kudsi and featuring young virtuoso violinists Himari Yoshimura and Natsuho Muratad.

With classical music pieces from Spain in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as a selection of Baroque compositions, critically acclaimed Spanish pianist Daniel Ligorio is accompanied by the castanets of Belén Cabanes and the dance of Loli Molina.

In an evening of Spanish music for violin and piano, this world-class duet takes inspiration from early twentieth-century music and beyond.

Emirati composer Ihab Darwish will tour China following the hugely successful musical projects Waves of My Life and Hekayat: Symphonic Tales in the UAE and virtually, both commissioned and produced by Abu Dhabi Festival.

A journey from loss to hope and reconciliation by innovative composers Qoutayba Neaimi and Judith Adler de Oliveira begins with mourning for the victims of war, followed by an atonement filled with peace and cultural tolerance.

A refined three-part dialogue between musical masters, the Paolo Fresu Trio performs with great emotional impact and intimate cerebral connection.

Emirati composer Ihab Darwish will tour China following the hugely successful musical projects Waves of My Life and Hekayat: Symphonic Tales in the UAE and virtually, both commissioned and produced by Abu Dhabi Festival.

With a voice that transcends borders and musical eras, internationally renowned Palestinian jazz singer and musician Omar Kamal continues the global tour of his latest album “Show Me the Light”.

Sheikh Mahmoud Al Tohamy, the great Egyptian Sufi chanter, will present a performance by his former students at the School of Religious Hymns. Now well-known spiritual musicians in their own rite, these award-winning performers have built their own followings through regular appearances at festivals and on television.

Abu Dhabi Festival will collaborate with Al Ain Film Festival, in its fourth edition, as its strategic cultural partner to support the development of young filmmakers and spread the culture of cinema in the UAE.

Abu Dhabi Festival will collaborate with Al Ain Film Festival, in its fourth edition, as its strategic cultural partner to support the development of young filmmakers and spread the culture of cinema in the UAE.

In a tale of family, tradition, and the perils of the diver and the wonders of the sea, Emirati writer Maitha Al Kayat and Emirati composer Eman Al Hashimi join forces with acclaimed interdisciplinary dance, music and new media collective Company E.

This world-premiere presentation by one of the greatest dance companies in the world will be choreographed to the music of legendary singer Tony Bennett.

Vanguard flamenco dancer and choreographer María Pagés premieres her feminine vision of Carmen. Hailed all over the world as one of the finest contemporary flamenco shows, it is a new take on the gypsy cigarette girl from Mérimée’s novella who was made famous by Bizet and the storyteller of the Arabian Nights.

Abu Dhabi Festival will collaborate with Al Ain Film Festival, in its fourth edition, as its strategic cultural partner to support the development of young filmmakers and spread the culture of cinema in the UAE.

Acclaimed Algerian filmmaker Salem Brahimi documents the inspiring story of Algerian Olympic champion Hassiba Boulmerka’s rise in the 1990s as a symbol of courage and resistance against death threats from religious extremists and oppression. Echoing the struggle of young Muslim women in some places to be allowed to jog and engage in sports, the film ultimately raises questions about the place of women in our societies.

The companion book to the art exhibition of the same name, Portrait of a Nation II documents the more than 100 key works, including 15 special commissions, that help form the landscape of Emirati and Emirates-based artists through painting, photography, 3D installations and audio-visual works.

The up-and-coming Saudi pop singer’s new 5-song EP Ismak will debut as part of Abu Dhabi Festival. Immersed in the world of western pop music, Tamtam brings elements from her Saudi roots into her music at just the right times, singing in Arabic or English whenever they feel natural.

In an album based on Arab poetry, this rising Syrian-American musician and composer shows the love and wisdom present in that poetry. The poets come from all walks of life and many eras, theologies and philosophies, but they are all unified by art.

In a unique combination of styles from a variety of cultures and time periods, Rahbany blends music from his own Lebanese Arab origins with European Baroque music such as Bach and Vivaldi, intricate Indian rhythms and the irresistible swing of Brazilian beats.

Retracing the history of the oud over more than a century and presenting eminent oud players and musicians, this box set of 2 CDs and 1 DVD, with an accompanying booklet, is a comprehensive archive of the most iconic instrument from the Arab region.

The first album by these young performers from Europe and the Middle East is born out of the need to bridge the distance between the shores and sonic world’s of a rapidly changing region. Musicians from Egypt, Turkey, Portugal and Italy met in Cairo to build a new collective musical identity, blending timbres and backgrounds in a unique artistic collaboration with Festival Aix-en-Provence, supported by Abu Dhabi Festival.

Abu Dhabi Festival is launching Belgian-Iraqi composer and researcher Qoutayba Neaimi’s revolutionary new innovation, a musical system that will change the way musicians throughout the world understand Arab music.