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Abu Dhabi Classics makes profits in first season |
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The "Abu Dhabi Classics" music festival made great success at all levels during its first 2008-2009 season, where the booking artists, participants and visitors from outside the UAE generated more than 8,000 nights in hotels in Abu Dhabi, and more than 15,000 tickets were sold. The festival, organised by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), held concerts in Al Ain and Abu Dhabi for continuous eight months and was attended by more than 35,000 music fans, which added significantly to its fame and generated profits. Abu Dhabi Classics launched its new programme, a unique all-year event, on October 2008 with a visit to Bayreuth Philharmonic and ended this May with a performance by Venice’s Teatro la Fenic. The concerts attracted international stars such as mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, pianist Lang Lang and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, in addition to music fans from the Arab Gulf, Europe and elsewhere in the world. Mohammed Khalaf Al Mazrouei, Director General of ADACH, announced the opening of the second season on 23 October 2009 with the first-ever visit to the UAE of the New York Philharmonic. "The first season has already surpassed all expectations. Only six months after its launch, Abu Dhabi Classics won a �What’s On’ award, and the series immediately started to attract its own growing and enthusiastic public," he said. "In the past, classical music concerts here were always free, but it is important for people to learn that you must pay for quality. We are happy to have started a new trend," he added. Abdullah Al Amiri, Director of the Department of Culture and Arts at ADACH, said the festival reflects the determination of Abu Dhabi to make art, music and culture part of daily life, and to become a leading centre of culture in the world. He said that the festival has succeeded in bringing top world musical figures together in a short period of time in Abu Dhabi. "Abu Dhabi Classics is an important basis of ADACH’s cultural strategy," Amiri said, "the project compliments a learning program coordinated with the schools of Abu Dhabi already." For the 2009/10 season, Executive Director Till Janczukowicz has announced an expansion of the education programme while highlighting strategic partnerships with three of the world’s leading orchestras: the New York Philharmonic, the Philharmonia of London and the Vienna Philharmonic will specially design education projects for Abu Dhabi. Visiting stars in the next season will include violinists Anne-Sophie Mutter and Frank Peter Zimmermann, pianist Emanuel Ax, and conductors Seiji Ozawa, Myung-Whun Chung and Lorin Maazel. The Bavarian State Opera from Munich will present a Wagner Gala, and Venice’s Teatro La Fenice returns with two full acts of opera: from Verdi’s Rigoletto and La Traviata. Programming highlights will also include the continuation of the cycle of Mahler symphonies, the beginning of a Beethoven symphonies cycle, family events, children’s concerts as well as a Valentine’s Day gala concert. The Al Ain Classics Festival will take place during the first half of March 2010 under the patronage of Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs. It welcomes the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra as resident orchestras. Continuing its collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Classics, the Al Ain Classics will welcome two of the world’s most distinguished institutions during the season: the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Teatro La Fenice from Venice. The complete Abu Dhabi Classics programme will be available online in August. A press conference in September will announce the season’s details and the new services being introduced. |
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