Limitless Orchestra at Dubai Opera review: Hans Zimmer as you've never heard before

The debut performance of violinist Aleksey Igudesman’s new musical concept was a wild reflection of the musician’s larger-than-life personality

Members of the Limitless Orchestra with Hans Zimmer at the Dubai Opera. Photo: Dubai Opera

I can guarantee you this: You’ve never seen anything like the Limitless Orchestra on a Dubai stage – or any stage across the world. I certainly hadn’t.

What is the Limitless Orchestra exactly? It’s the creation of German-Russian violinist Aleksey Igudesman, a new concept that, as its name suggests, pushes the limits of what one can expect from an orchestra. Not only do the musicians play instruments, but they sing, dance, act and pantomime. At certain points, they’ll even rap.

If you haven’t heard of the concept yet, that’s because the collective just had their world debut at the Dubai Opera, punctuated by a special guest appearance by popular German composer Hans Zimmer, who frequently collaborates with Igudesman.

The initial performance, which surveyed the history of the waltz from composer Richard Strauss to Zimmer’s famed film music, was centred around its special guest, who has become a particular favourite of the UAE in recent years, thanks to his now-yearly concerts. But make no mistake, this is the Aleksey Igudesman show.

This dynamic was particularly highlighted when Zimmer took the stage to perform Igudesman’s new interpretation of Zimmer’s Inception score with the orchestra.

“You ruined it!” Zimmer joked, before praising the wild creativity that define’s Igudesman’s show.

“At my studios, when someone has an idea, we no longer say something is crazy,” Zimmer continued. “We say it’s Aleksey.”

Zimmer then moved to the back of the stage and started playing the keyboards, as the orchestra began playing a stirring rendition of Time, the standout track from Inception. And just when things became particularly emotional, they dropped the faithful version, and started doing a salsa version of the song, with many of the musicians dancing across the stage.

It became quite clear why Zimmer joked that they had “ruined” the song when one of the musicians, tall and blonde with long hair, began rapping about Inception during a hip-hop version of the song, featuring lyrics such as “I’m Joseph Gordon levitating”.

This was far from the most startling part of the show, which was unpredictable from start to finish. It began with a long sequence in which Igudesman introduced each musician semi-poetically, as if they are characters being described in a 1990s film trailer. In another moment, Igudesman acted angry as if a mistake had occurred, with a disco ball left hanging from above the stage "by accident" – leading to his musicians using “magic” to vanish it away, with hints of Cirque du Soleil.

In a sequence that featured Zimmer on the stage, the orchestra played his work from the Pirates of the Caribbean films, and the violinists donned pirate hats and had “sword” fights with their violin bows. Singer Ekaterina Shelehova sang in a classical, Sarah Brightman in the original cast recording of Phantom of the Opera-esque style over the affair, adding lyrics such as “pirates, we are pirates” in case there was any confusion.

Your mileage on the Limitless Orchestra, which is planned to be a potential touring concept, will depend entirely on how much you hear the constant genre shifts and see Igudesman drop his instrument and begin breakdancing across the stage and decide to accept it as uproarious fun rather than an affront to classical music convention.

Because it’s clear this is all very deliberately a rejection of anything traditional. Most likely, each of these musicians was trained traditionally, has sat in old-school orchestras their entire lives, which are often stuffy affairs. They each clearly are multitalented, but never have they been able to explore their full creative impulses.

What Igudesman has done is give them all a safe space to explore, to create, and to drop inhibitions.. Often, it's goofy. Sometimes, they're doing things that are appear outside their comfort zone – dancing a half step behind with enthusiastic gusto. Some look absolutely in their element, others seem like they've found themselves in a very strange dream.

This a reflection of Igudesman's own personality, as he has long performed as part of the musical comedy duo Igudesman & Joo, but what makes it so interesting to watch is seeing the personalities on display of each of the musicians he’s assembled, who are each seemingly behaving as their full selves or unveiling a part of themselves they've never before explored.

At times, you’ll get whiplash from the performance. And if I’m describing my own personal enjoyment, it was really located in moments rather than overall, when suddenly the madness on stage gelled into something beautiful and transcendent before shifting into something else again entirely.

Over the years here in the UAE, the country has been host to so many brilliant international performances, but usually these are touring concepts that are tried and true. Coldplay in Abu Dhabi is testament to that – a show that the British band has honed to near perfection. But the other side of that is that we rarely are able to experience something that is unpolished and new, with a group of talented individuals experimenting and honing their craft. That is what made the initial performances of the Limitless Orchestra feel rare and compelling.

And even if little changes between now and its potential international performances, perhaps its messiness is also its greatest strength. And one thing is for certain, it’s never boring. See it, if you get the chance. Perhaps you’ll be Joseph Gordon levitating, too.