DUBAI: For its ninth season, Dubai Opera is welcoming more than 50 international productions to the stage, including regional debuts, new collaborations, and modern interpretations of opera, ballet, and musical theater.
Arab News spoke to Paolo Petrocelli, head of Dubai Opera, about how the calendar caters to the city’s famously diverse demographics.
The season launched in September with Giacomo Puccini’s opera “La Boheme,” Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and the “Emperor” piano concerto, and Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” ballet.
The shows have been “carefully curated to reflect the cosmopolitan identity of Dubai,” Petrocelli said.
He added that “the program spans opera, ballet, musicals, Arabic music, comedy, concerts, and theater. This diversity ensures that every generation and cultural background finds something to connect with.”
Among the roster of shows, “WICKED” is set to make its UAE debut after a run in Saudi Arabia, while “Grease” and “Rumi: The Musical” will also be featured in the 2025-26 calendar.
“More than 40 percent of our audience is under 45, which is quite unique for an opera house,” Petrocelli explained. The roster was crafted to create an “inclusive platform where timeless traditions meet contemporary creativity.”
This season Dubai Opera is also expanding upon its Arabic-language offerings, with performances by Najwa Karam, Zade Dirani, Elissa, Marilyne Naaman, The Yemenis Orchestra, Omar Khairat, and Khalid Abdulrahman.
“(We are) presenting legendary icons alongside emerging voices to better reflect the richness and diversity of the region,” Petrocelli explained.
Testing the waters this season is the regional debut of “War and Peace,” a stage adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s epic novel. The play “allow(s) us to push boundaries and test audience appetite for ambitious works that combine scale, depth, and artistic daring,” Petrocelli said of the dramatization.
“Personally, I am especially excited about welcoming Yuja Wang for her Middle East debut, a pianist of extraordinary virtuosity and charisma, as well as Jon Batiste, a global music star whose work transcends genres,” he added of the Chinese-born American pianist and US musician, respectively.
