Dubai Opera Beethoven 9th | The Experience
CLASSICAL MUSIC & ME
As a boy, born and bought up in
Kerala, God's Own Country - western classical music was not accessible growing
up. The only source was CARTOON Network. Yes, it is!
For example, everyone loves the
episode of Tom playing a piano and Jerry trying to sleep; the classical No.
plays on it "Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2". As a kid, I
admired the music more than the funny parts played by the characters. The
cartoons played in Indian 'Cartoon Network' channels at those days are more
oriented in Western Classical, by Hanna-Barbera Productions. When listening to "Largo al factotum"
for the first time, I didn't even know that its Italian. By the way, Tom is the
best performer of "Largo al factotum" ;)
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| BBC Symphony Orchestra, Richard Farnes (conductor),Elizabeth Atherton (soprano), Yvonne Howard (mezzo-soprano), Mark Le Brocq (tenor), Roderick Williams (baritone) |
And when I was introduced to
INTERNET, things changed. Explored the classical music and fell in love deeper
and deeper. I always say to my friends "from Mozart to Michael I listen to
all Music - Mozart, Michael & Music." Mozart and Michael Jackson are my
favorite musicians. But the top piece of classical music on my play-list is
composed by Beethoven, his 9th. I keep listening to it, each time with
different conductors, orchestras and sometimes the same conductor and same
orchestra but at a different venue. It's a warm, welcoming feeling
when baritone soloist, sings "O Freunde...", a heavenly feeling
when the choir sings 'Ode to Joy.' From the beginning of the symphony to its
epic finale, Beethoven gives us different feelings of life. So much for my love
to this symphony, I even named my sisters' wedding theme as "An ode to joy."
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| My Sister's wedding invitation - April 2018 |
DUBAI OPERA
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| Dubai Opera - 21/03/2019 |
I moved to UAE (Sharjah) by the
end of 2015, by 2016 I was looking for a better job and was settling in. And I
heard Dubai Opera is opening with a performance by Plácido Domingo. An Opera
House in Dubai!, I was very excited. Exactly four days after Dubai Opera opened
I got a better job in Dubai, and I moved to Dubai. But for one thing or another,
I was unable to visit Dubai Opera. Of course when I go across the iconic
building, I always stop by to admire its architectural beauty.
BBC Proms 2019
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| Dubai Opera - After the concert - 21/03/2019 |
21/03/2019
Dubai Opera is amazingly
beautiful inside, like outside. The fantastic 'Symphony' a light sculpture
designed by Libor Sostak made with 1000s of bespoke LEDs is something
blows your mind. The concert conducted by Richard Farnes started with a
beautiful Cello Concerto by William Walton. A delightful piece of music.
Honestly, I was half listening, eager for Beethoven9. No offense to the music
of William Walton, waiting for something that we longed for a long lime makes
you impatient. Then after the break the host of the evening Petroc
Trelawny explained to the audience some facts, like, Beethoven 9 is premiering
in Dubai almost 200 years after its world premiere. And this is the first
performance of the newly created Dubai Opera Festival Chorus.
Beethoven 9
When Richard Farnes started
moving his baton the magic began, the symphony is considered to be one of
the supreme achievements in the history of western music! I had listened to it
conducted by various maestros in various audio devices. The concerts
of Wilhelm Furtwangler, Heribert Karajan & Daniel Barenboim of
Beethoven 9 is on my frequent playlist. I cannot explain how different it felt
listening live.
What a night! Over 250 musicians and singers on one stage performing the Dubai premiere of Beethoven's Ninth symphony! Not only that, it was also the debut performance of the newly created Dubai Opera Festival Chorus. #BBCPromsDubai #DubaiOpera #Dubai pic.twitter.com/lieXh2V7au— Dubai Opera (@DubaiOpera) March 22, 2019
From the first movement to the third movement I was exploring for sounds and its instrumentalist, knowing what it's going to play next, I moved my eyes towards them. When the finale came, My cousins' face lit up, like "finally something I am familiar is here". The fourth movement of Beethoven 9 is much popular than the first three. When the 'Ode to Joy' theme is played by the cellos and double basses the entire audience's excitement can be felt. From the moment Roderick Williams stared the choral part of the symphony, 'O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!' always knew what it meant, but the first time I felt it. I felt what it said.
The performance of Elizabeth Atherton, Yvonne Howard, Mark le Brocq, Roderick Williams were exquisite. I could never remove their performance from my eyes. Through out the choral part, Dubai Opera Festival Chorus proved to be professional, like always, Dubai creates the best in the world!
When the audience applauded - a
standing ovation, Richard Farnes and his team received the audience's honor, my
mind was all about Beethoven, and the world premiere of 9th on 7 May 1824
in the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna. If after almost 200 years, the
reaction to this music is like this, what would have been Beethoven received! I
have read about it,
"the public
received the musical hero with the utmost respect and sympathy, listened to his
wonderful, gigantic creations with the most absorbed attention and broke out in
jubilant applause, often during sections, and repeatedly at the end of
them." The audience acclaimed him through standing ovations five
times; there were handkerchiefs in the air, hats, raised hands, so that
Beethoven, who could not hear the applause, could at least see the ovations."
It's true that
legends never die, they live forever!
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The following pictures are published by Dubai Opera via their official Twitter:
Concert presented by Petroc Trelawny
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Richard Farnes (conductor)
Elizabeth Atherton (soprano)
Yvonne Howard (mezzo-soprano)
Mark Le Brocq (tenor)
Roderick Williams (baritone)
Dubai Opera Festival Chorus
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The following pictures are published by Dubai Opera via their official Twitter:
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