Dubai Expo 2020's Al Wasl Opera will premiere in December

Tickets for Dubai Expo 2020's Al Wasl Opera, a cultural landmark celebrating thousands of years of UAE history, its achievements to date and its aspirations for the future are now on sale directly from the Dubai Opera House, where the show will be performed, for its premiere from 16-19 December.

Produced in collaboration with Welsh National Opera (WNO), the show features more than 100 artists and musicians, as well as a production team of 70 professionals, to combine the world's best operatic talent, celebrating the Expo 2020 theme, "Connecting Minds, Creating the Future". 

Composed by Mohammed Fairouz, co-written and written by Maha Gargash, directed by Sir David Pountney and conducted by Justin Brown, Al Wasl translates as "the connection" in English, and is the ancient name for Dubai. Connection here implies international cooperation, and Al Wasl Opera shows how we must work together to channel sustainability, one of the three sub-themes of the Expo.

Najeeb Mohammed Al Ali, Executive Director of the Office of the Commissioner General of Dubai Expo 2020, said "Dubai Expo 2020 provides a landmark opera that supports the UAE's thriving arts scene, and also reflects our country's values of tolerance and cooperation, as well as our global sense of responsibility towards each other and our planet." 

Mohammed Fairouz, composer of Al Wasl Opera, said, "Celebrating the collaborative vision of Expo 2020, Al Wasl Opera brings together many people from diverse artistic backgrounds to create an art form, and there is nothing more universal than opera and theatre. If people can laugh and cry together, anything is possible with each other".

Sir David Pountney, director of Al Wasl Opera, said: "The story of Al Wasl begins in the desert, and we have created quite an original way of representing this desert metaphorically. 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 into the future in the final act, where we are in the pure fantasyland of what the future may or may not look like, depending on whether we commit to a sustainable tomorrow."

Al Wasl Opera will be performed in English, with a running time of 120 minutes, including an intermission. Tickets start at AED 300 and are available on the Dubai Opera website.

Text, photos and video: Expo Dubai 2020