Tickets now on sale for Expo 2020 Dubai's 'Al Wasl Opera' set to premiere in December

The first Emirati opera has been created in line with the theme of Expo 2020

Emirati composer Mohammed Fairouz has composed music for the Al Wasl Opera. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai

Tickets for Expo 2020 Dubai’s Al Wasl Opera, which celebrates thousands of years of the UAE's history, its achievements and aspirations, are now on sale before the premiere at the Dubai Opera in December.

Read more about Expo 2020 Dubai here.

Produced in collaboration with Welsh National Opera, the first Emirati opera has been created under Expo 2020’s theme of “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future” and will feature more than 100 artists and musicians from around the world.

The show will run from December 16 to 19 and is composed by Mohammed Fairouz, co-written by Maha Gargash, directed by Sir David Pountney and conducted by Justin Brown.

“Celebrating Expo 2020’s vision of collaboration, Al Wasl Opera brings together many people from a variety of artistic backgrounds to create one art form – and there’s nothing more universal than opera and theatre. If people can laugh and cry together, then anything is possible between them,” Mr Fairouz said.

The opera gets its name, Al Wasl, from the old name for Dubai. It also translates as “the connection” in English, fittingly for Expo 2020’s theme.

“The story of Al Wasl begins in the desert, and we created a rather original way of depicting this desert in a metaphorical way,” Sir Pountney said.

“In the middle act, we are in the present, where there is a strong reference to the creation of the Burj Khalifa, and we move on into the future in the final act, where we are in pure fantasyland about what the future may or may not look like, depending on whether we make a commitment to a sustainable tomorrow.”

Al Wasl Opera will be presented in English, with a runtime of 120 minutes, including one intermission. Tickets start from Dh300 and are available from the Dubai Opera website.