Eighteenth-century romance was top of the bill at the Abu Dhabi Festival on Saturday night.
After a week of straight musical performances and piano recitals, the Emirates Palace Auditorium hosted the first of two operatic theatre productions of Mozart's The Magic Flute.
Presented by the Budapest Festival Orchestra and conducted by Iván Fischer, this Arab- world premiere managed to maintain the charm throughout, despite the epic three-hour running time.
Set in a mythical land, The Magic Flute begins when the love-struck prince Tamino is tasked by the ill-intentioned Queen of the Night to rescue her daughter, Pamina, from the clutches of the high priest, Sarastro.
What follows is a journey during which Tamino questions his motives and faith, until he eventually arrives at a new-found clarity.
While the premise is relatively straightforward, there is a lot going on if you scratch underneath The Magic Flute's shiny surface.
In addition to the classic romantic plot and the comedic touches – provided by the bird catcher and Tamino's irascible side kick, Papageno – The Magic Flute also meditates on issues ranging from friendship and faith to ways in which we can build a common humanity.
Fischer presented the tale in an engaging manner, with Tamino, Papageno and Pamino played by two actors, one responsible for the dialogue while the other took over the singing.
The production made full use of the auditorium’s space – in addition to the rather snug orchestra pit directly beneath the stage, some of the actors appeared from the aisles and freely walked around the floor chatting to
each other – a nifty move as it made the auditorium feel like an interactive performance space.
With The Magic Flute's variety of all-encompassing themes, Fischer kept his interpretation of the opera fairly straight.
While there was none of the juvenile slapstick favoured by many other popular productions (and which has made it a favourite of high-school drama courses), the humour remained in plentiful supply.
Hanno Muller-Brachman was a marvel in the operatic role of Papageno. Through his deep baritone and gregarious presence he managed to channel his character’s bittersweet nature.
Nuria Rial’s singing of Pamina was also solid – however, her passionate and heavy vocals didn’t really transition very well with her acting partner, who presented the princess as somewhat immature and ditsy.
The star of the show, however, was Mandy Fredrich as the raging Queen of the Night. The German was an absolute powerhouse on stage, with her perfect phrasing and crystalline vocals that had you wishing the orchestra would extend her scenes.
With this being the first performance of the show at the venue, a few technical issues reared their ugly heads. The chief problem was a few actors failed to attach their microphones securely enough, causing a few dialogue scenes to suffer.
This will surely be rectified for tonight’s second and final performance, which is highly recommended as a very worthwhile treat for those looking for a charming night at the opera.
The Magic Flute, performed by the Budapest Festival Orchestra, is at Emirates Palace on Monday, March 30 at 8pm. Tickets start at Dh125 from www.timeouttickets.com
sasaeed@thenational.ae
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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