Take a quick stroll past Christine Belbelian’s villa and you’re unlikely to notice anything out of the ordinary – it’s a typically spacious, stylised Jumeirah residence on an Umm Al Sheif side street.
But wander past on a Monday evening and you just might hear harmonious German voices drifting through the night air. Aficionados might recognise the strains of Mozart and Beethoven floating out under the stars.
That’s because Belbelian’s villa, for now at least, is one of the makeshift rehearsal spaces for the Emirates Opera Project. Reportedly the only, and certainly the highest-profile, opera group in the country, the ensemble celebrates two years of lighting up stages, serenading diners and hosting their own private concerts next month.
In the UAE, that’s a greater milestone than you might credit. The country’s classical-music scene is enthusiastic but small. Performance venues are in short supply, while the mix of cultures and transient nature of expat life makes forming and maintaining a professional performance group an arduous task.
“It all began with us,” says Belbelian, who has lived in Dubai for 13 years. “Before, opera singers would come from abroad, but as far as a local group, we’re the first.”
A nine-member collective made up of voices from around the world – the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Armenia and South Africa, backed by a Ukrainian pianist – the group’s foundations were laid in 2011 following the arrival of Jerzy Olsson-Nagorski in Dubai. The 32-year-old British sales manager had eight years of professional opera performance experience, but found his skills were going to waste.
“I hadn’t sung a note in nine months,” he recalls with a laugh, “so I sent out an email – looking for people to make music, good sense of humour, etc.”
His first reply came from Belbelian, an Armenian lyric soprano and professional voice and piano teacher. Like the other members who soon followed, Belbelian had been performing in smaller ensembles across the emirates for years, but had become disillusioned by the lack of a formal, ongoing group project. One early recruit was Maria Glück, a German spinto soprano who works as a singing teacher at Dubai College. She had already risen about as far as one could in the UAE, performing at several concerts with the former UAE Philharmonic Orchestra.
“The thing is, there are a lot of musicians in Dubai, but we don’t actually know we all exist,” says the British baritone Bradley Minchin, a 31-year-old teacher. “There’s a lot of talent but it takes a little bit of searching.”
After performing in smaller concert set-ups, in November 2012 the newly named Emirates Opera Project made its formal debut in front of more than 350 music lovers – with a performance in Belbelian’s garden.
Since then, the enterprise has grown. Highlights have included a performance celebrating Verdi’s bicentennial at the Raffles Dubai hotel ballroom last October, and an intimate dinner at Alta Badia in Dubai’s Emirates Towers in April in front of none other than the American moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, and the guy who put the moonwalk in Michael Jackson’s repertoire, Quincy Jones, who apparently had plenty of positive feedback for the vocalists.
“That was quite a special evening,” says Olsson-Nagorski.
Now the group is focusing on a series of themed dinners at The Ivy, also at Dubai’s Emirates Towers.
Having hosted programmes devoted to Italian and French opera this year, the new season begins on Wednesday with German opera. It then continues with an evening of art songs – typically short, stand-alone compositions written for solo voice and piano – on November 14; and there will be a programme of festive favourites on December 10.
As the group prepares for the new season, I sat in for a rehearsal. It was remarkable to hear nine voices explode in unison, the unmistakably dramatic choruses of Mozart's The Magic Flute and Beethoven's Fidelio reverberating up to the villa's ceiling.
Even more remarkable was the camaraderie – where I expected the serious solemnity of classical clichés, I witnessed smiles and giggles. When one run-through began comically fast, instead of shooting the pianist, they fell about laughing, doing it again even faster for comic effect.
Aside from The Ivy’s formal concert programme, there are also plans for a third annual garden party, back at this very villa in December. While strictly for invited guests only, opera connoisseurs are encouraged to get in touch.
And remember, if you find yourself walking in Jumeirah one night, and catch awe-inspiring arias in the wind, it’s probably the Emirates Opera Project you’re hearing.
• The Emirates Opera Project is live at The Ivy this October 29, November 19 and December 10. Tickets costs from Dh395 inclusive of three-course meal. For more information, visit www.theivy.ae or call 04 319 8767
rgarratt@thenational.ae
Forthcoming concerts
The Four Seasons (times three)
Returning this month after a three-year absence, the showstopping Abu Dhabi Classics series presents a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, alongside two more-modern pieces inspired by that series of classic concertos – the Argentine tango pioneer Astor Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires and the minimalist Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No 2, titled The American Four Seasons – all brought to life in the capital by the Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica.
• Tuesday, October 28, 8pm, at Abu Dhabi Theatre, tickets from Dh30 at www.ticketmaster.ae
World Classical Musical Series
This series, backed by the Dubai Concert Committee, continues with a solo recital from the young, Dubai-born Iranian pianist Arsha Kaviani. He is known for performing his own compositions and improvising on themes from the audience in addition to playing a romantic repertoire.
• November 20, 8pm, at One&Only Royal Mirage, Dubai, tickets from Dh250 at www.mpremiere.com
Dubai Chamber Orchestra
More than a decade old, this home-grown amateur orchestra will perform works by Mozart, Haydn and Carl Nielsen at its next concert.
• November 21 at the Centre for Musical Arts, near Gold and Diamond Park, Dubai, free entry. Follow @DXBChamberOrch
