French music legend Michel Legrand will celebrate his 85th birthday with a debut concert in the UAE.
The Oscar-winning composer and pianist will perform at Dubai Opera on February 23 – a day before he celebrates the milestone anniversary – as part of an epic tour of “85 concerts for my 85th birthday”.
Best known as a film composer, Legrand is renowned for his inimitable jazz-tinged scores, which have graced more than 200 movies.
These include Oscar-winning work scoring The Summer of 42 and Yentl, as well as the The Thomas Crown Affair, for which Legrand also won an Academy Award for Best Original Song with The Windmills of Your Mind.
Earlier, he made a weighty contribution to the 1960s French New Wave movement, scoring classics from iconic directors Jean-Luc Godard (A Woman is a Woman, My Life to Live, Band of Outsiders) and Jacques Demy's (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Young Girls of Rochefort).
Strafing the conventional roles of composer, arranger, bandleader, conductor and pianist, over five decades Legrand has worked with diverse musical icons including Frank Sinatra, Julie Andrews, Ray Charles, Charles Aznavour, Aretha Franklin, Natalie Dessay and Diana Ross.
Legrand has also pursued a parallel career as a jazz recording artist, releasing duet albums alongside American legends Sarah Vaughan and Stan Getz.
“It is an honour to celebrate the life and works of Michel Legrand at Dubai Opera,” says the venue’s chief executive, Jasper Hope.
“His musical scores are as memorable as the incredible films they have brought to life, and I am delighted we’ve been able to persuade him to share them live with an audience in Dubai for the very first time.”
Tickets go on sale on Wednesday, November 23 via www.dubaiopera.com.
rgarratt@thenational.ae
