Thursday, November 10, 2011

Royal Opera House Muscat 2011

Sultan Qaboos Bin Saeed hoped the Royal Opera House

, which he formally opened on Wednesday night, will play a significant role in disseminating world heritage and reinforcing the principles of peace, co-existence and understanding among all nations and peoples through art events.
"They (art events) express a common human cultural heritage of strong meaning and deep impact," he said after opening the iconic Opera House.
According to Franco Zeffirelli, legendary Italian opera director, the Royal Opera House in Muscat will help Arab culture merge with the great tradition of European classics. "I have been dreaming about it (merging of Arab and European classics) for years and now I see it becoming a reality with the opening of Opera House in Muscat," he said during an interaction with the media Thursday.
The wheelchair-bound entertainer urged everyone to forget the political differences to make universal peace. "Everything about Opera is beautiful," he opined.

Turandot

is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini,

set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's^[2] adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot by Carlo Gozzi. Turandot was unfinished at the time of Puccini's death and was later completed by Franco Alfano. The first performance was held at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on April 25, 1926 and conducted by Arturo Toscanini. This performance included only Puccini's music and not Alfano's additions. The first performance of the opera as completed by Alfano was the foll

owing night.

Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo ‘Sings to Oman’

For one night only on October 18,

the iconic Plácido Domingo performed in concert with sopranos Angel Blue and Micaëla Oeste at the newly inaugurated Royal Opera House Muscat.
The vocalists performed alongside renowned flamenco dancer Núria Pomares and the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra who made their official Royal Opera House debut under the baton of Maestro Eugene Kohn.
Commenting on his return to Oman, Plácido Domingo said: “It is a pleasure to inaugurate, both as a singer and as a conductor, the Royal Opera House Muscat, and to welcome this new theatre into the wide world of opera. It already demonstrates its status and authority, so that it can soon become a guiding star for musicians and audiences. The opening of a new Opera House is an extraordinary event, and all the more so in the Middle East, where passion, education and feelings are the emblems of a history rich in achievements in all of the arts. To this new venture, I give my blessings and my warmest wishes for a prosperous future and a long and lasting relationship.”

Is a political and economic union of the Arab states bordering the Arabian Gulf and constituting the Arabian Peninsula, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. On May 10, 2011, a request by Jordan to join the GCC was formally being considered and Morocco was invited to join the council.

State of Kuwait

is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the Arabic أكوات ākwāt, the plural of كوت kūt, meaning a fortress built near water. The Emirate covers an area of 17,820 square kilometers (6,880 sq mi) and has a population of about 3.6 million.