A VERY GOOD MORNING TO ALL OUR DISTINGUISHED GUESTS.
It is my very great pleasure to welcome you to this Press Conference announcing the new 2018-2019 Season at the Royal Opera House Muscat.
First, let me introduce myself. I am Umberto Fanni, Director General of the Royal Opera House Muscat - and I would like to say what an honour and great pleasure it continues to be to serve in this capacity with ROHM's highly dedicated Board of Directors.
The distinguished speakers who will address you today are, first His Highness Sayyid Kamil Fahad Mahmood Al Said, Member of the Board of Directors; and then, Professor Issam El Mallah, Advisor to the Board for Programming and Events.
But to begin with, I would like now to tell you about the theme for the Press Conference. Following last year's Legendary Season, we have a new theme for the 2018-2019 Season; and it is - Around the World with ROHM.
The Royal Opera House Muscat will take you on a Journey that begins in Spain and travels across The USA, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia – stopping in Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, the USA, Cuba, Russia, Georgia, Tunisia, Oman, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Lebanon, India, China and Japan!
All the while we are connecting cultures and catching the colours of music and dance around the world. And this is a journey that will continue in the many seasons to come at the Royal Opera House Muscat.
Now I am delighted to give the floor to His Highness, Sayyid Kamil, who will officially open our Press Conference.
YOUR HIGHNESS…
THANK YOU, Your Highness Sayyid Kamil, for this highly informative and inspiring presentation… and again, a very good morning to all of you.
PROGRAMME OVERVIEW
I am now delighted to review the exciting new roster of programs for the coming Season.
The great Maestro Plácido Domingo opens the 2018-2019 season this coming September 6th and 8th with a wonderful Gala Zarzuela - and returns later in the Season, in February 2019, to sing in and conduct Giuseppe Verdi's immensely popular opera, La Traviata.
The Gala Zarzuela is an original, semi-staged Opera Gala produced in collaboration with ROHM, which, in addition to the great Maestro, features two singers who are emerging stars, soprano, Ana Maria Martinez and tenor, Arturo Chacon Cruz.
The Gala will be enriched by the performance of amazing flamenco dancers from Antonio Gades Company. This new production is directed by Stefano Trespidi, with sets and image projection designed by Ezio Antonelli. The music is performed by the Orchestra of the Fondazione Arena di Verona under the baton of Jordi Bernacer.
I WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME THE INTENDANT OF THE FONDAZIONE ARENA DI VERONA, MRS CECILIA GASDIA
AND THE DIRECTOR OF THE GALA ZARZUELA, MR STEFANO TRESPIDI, WHO ARE HERE WITH US TODAY;
AND TO THANK BOTH OF THEM FOR COMING.
ROHM is especially privileged to present the great Maestro, Valery Gergiev, who reigns as one of the world's most illustrious conductors.
Maestro Gergiev will conduct the Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet of Mariinsky Theatre of Saint Petersburg in a sumptuous production of Alexander Borodin's grand opera, Prince Igor.
And, on a separate evening, the great Gergiev conducts the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and Chorus in Stravinsky's spectacular orchestral work, The Firebird and Prokofiev's magnificent Cantata, Alexander Nevsky.
Along with these special performances, the roster of guest conductors for the coming season features renowned names such as Marco Armiliato, and Emmanuel Villaume, as well the rising star, Daniele Rustioni.
RECITALS FROM BELCANTO TO VERISMO
The new Season features recitals that take us on a journey with wonderful musical colours from the age of belcanto in the early nineteenth century, through the Romanticism of the late nineteenth century, to the opera music of the early twentieth century.
Juan Diego Flórez, one of the finest tenors in the world, will sing classic belcanto arias from the great masters, Bellini, Donizetti, and Rossini.
And another celebrated opera star, Vittorio Grigolo, one of the leading tenors of his generation and known for his exciting theatrical character, will sing arias by Verdi, Gounod and Massenet selected from the romantic operatic repertoire.
With her lovely theatrical presence, soprano, Kristine Opolais will sing unforgettable arias from modern masters, Puccini, Dvořák, and Rachmaninov, accompanied by one-hundred-and-forty musicians of the European Union Youth Orchestra under the baton of Vasily Petrenko.
OPERAS
ROHM's 2018-19 operas include Alexander Borodin's great epic, Prince Igor, produced by Mariinsky Theatre and conducted by Valery Gergiev;
Johann Strauss' delightful romantic comedy, Eine Nacht in Venedig (A Night in Venice), staged by Peter Langdal and performed by Opera de Lyon under the baton of Daniele Rustioni;
Giacomo Puccini's masterpiece Madama Butterfly in a coproduction of Castell de Peralada Festival and Deutsche Oper am Rhein Dusseldorf-Duisburg, directed by Joan Anton Rechi and conducted by the famous Marco Armiliato;
La Traviata, staged by Marta Domingo in a collaboration between LA Opera and ROHM;
Gioachino Rossini's brilliant comic opera La Scala di Seta, staged by the renowned director Damiano Michieletto in a production by Rossini Opera Festival;
and, last but certainly not least, Léo Delibes' beautiful Lakmé directed by Davide Livermore in a ROHM World Premiere in collaboration with some of the most prestigious opera companies from the USA, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.
OPERA STARS AND YOUNG TALENT
The roster of opera stars appearing at ROHM in the operas is as impressive as the opera repertoire.
The Royal Opera House Muscat will present Puccini's Madama Butterfly featuring an impressive cast. One of today's foremost sopranos, Maria José Siri performs the title role of Cio-Cio-san. Italian tenor, Roberto Aronica sings Pinkerton.
Georgian Baritone, George Gagnidze, who has the rare distinction of appearing at the Metropolitan Opera every season for the past decade, sings Sharpless. Winner of the Pavarotti International Voice Competition, mezzosoprano, Veronica Simeoni performs as Suzuki.
The cast for La Traviata is just as memorable: Standing on the podium on the final night, Plácido Domingo will sing the role of Germont on two different nights, while the brilliant baritone, Simone Piazzola takes the role of Germont when Plácido conducts.
I would like to emphasize that ROHM takes pride in supporting emerging artists, many of whom will become opera's new stars. Indeed, we have chosen Russian soprano Kristina Mkhitaryan, winner at Operalia Competition in 2017, as "our" Violetta in La Traviata.
Many more talented young singers appear in the new season - and they come from a range of countries. These include Canadian mezzosoprano, Wallis Giunta who won the Young Singer of the Year award last month in the International Opera Awards in London; award-winning Egyptian soprano Fatma Said; and, Kazakh lyric soprano Maria Mudryak.
Some of the most promising young Rossinian singers, such as Spanish soprano, Marina Monzó and Italian tenor, Piero Adaini, enrich the cast of La Scala di Seta.
All the singers in Lakmé are making debut appearances as rising stars. I will mention just a few: Russian tenor, Sergey Romanovsky; Italian mezzosoprano Raffaella Lupinacci; and the extraordinary Mexican soprano, Karen Gardzeadabal who debuts in the title role.
Karen Gardzeadabal studied in Valencia at the prestigious Centre de Perfeccionament Plácido Domingo del Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, the company with which ROHM coproduced The Opera, an original work that ROHM presented in March of 2017. Karen gave a wonderful performance in The Opera and now returns to us starring as Lakmé, the beautiful Indian Priestess.
We have kept in touch with Karen, watching her career blossom and have invited her back, not only to follow up with this promising young artist as part of ROHM's on-going effort to promote emerging talent, but also to strengthen important links between ROHM productions and the companies and performers with whom we collaborate.
I WILL NOW PRESENT A SHORT VIDEO OF THE AMAZING KAREN GARDZEADABAL
I'd like to note that musicians are also among the talented young artists featured in the new season. The brilliant twenty-year-old violinist Giovanni Andrea Zanon is an exceptional winner of more than thirty awards; and the virtuosic twenty-five-year-old concert pianist, Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev has already toured throughout Europe and in China, Japan, The USA and Mexico, among other places.
ROHM'S NEW COPRODUCTIONS & COLLABORATION
AND NOW… I will continue with ROHM's key projects in opera co-productions and collaboration.
A brilliant new interpretation of Johann Strauss' Eine Nacht in Venedig, A Night in Venice, has been coproduced by ROHM with the world-class company of Opéra de Lyon and Oper Graz.
It is important to again make special mention of the collaboration of ROHM with LA Opera in presenting LA Opera's dazzling production of Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata staged by Marta Domingo, and to emphasize the extraordinary participation of the great Plácido Domingo.
WE ARE NOW VERY PLEASED TO PRESENT A SHORT VIDEO OF THE GREAT MAESTRO
I would also like to highlight ROHM's collaborative relationship with the world-renowned and historic Rossini Opera Festival. Following the success of Rossini's L'Occasione fa il Ladro last season, ROHM will present the Festival's production of La Scala di Seta staged by the famous director, Damiano Michieletto.
IT NOW GIVES ME GREAT PLEASURE TO WELCOME THE INTENDANT OF THE ROSSINI OPERA FESTIVAL, MR. ERNESTO PALACIO,
WHO IS HERE WITH US TODAY; AND TO THANK HIM FOR COMING
La Scala di Seta, a charming and very funny opera starring the renowned baritone, Paolo Bordogna, will be presented as part of a highly entertaining educational project. This collaborative project is also designed to help ROHM's Omani technical staff gain more expertise in the field of Theatre.
AND NOW, I am most pleased and very proud to announce that, next March, the Royal Opera House Muscat will stage its first production – Léo Delibes' wonderful opera Lakmé.
This will be a World Premiere produced by ROHM in cooperation with LA Opera, Fondazione Teatro dell'Opera of Rome, Fondazione Arena of Verona, Teatro Carlo Felice of Genova, Astana Opera, Cairo Opera House, Shanghai Oriental Art Center and Opera Australia.
This amazing worldwide collaboration encapsulates the idea of a Journey Around the World, a concept that inspired the theme and the content of the 2018-2019 season. And Lakmé is one of the pillars of ROHM's world journey.
Such remarkable collaboration and co-productions as these are the result of ROHM's track record of consistently presenting performances of the highest quality, a practice which has become a hallmark of the institution, facilitating productive relationships with many of the world's great opera houses.
And so, with this new season, significant milestones are reached as ROHM continues its transformational journey along the road to becoming a true production house.
AND NOW, I call upon Davide Livermore, the extremely talented Director who worked with us two years ago on the Royal Opera House Muscat's production of The Opera to tell you more about our new coproduction of Lakmé.
IT IS WITH GREAT PLEASURE THAT I WELCOME DIRECTOR DAVIDE LIVERMORE...
THANK YOU, DAVIDE.
BALLET
ROHM's Ballet selection for 2018-19 begins right after the opening of the new Season, with a fantastic fusion of ballet and flamenco in Fuego, a classically elegant, dream-like ballet that is cinematic in scope. Inspired by Andalusian folk myths, Spain's greatest dancer and choreographer, Antonio Gades, and the brilliant filmmaker, Carlos Saura created this mesmerising flamenco-style ballet.
The Tokyo Ballet will present La Bayadère (The Temple Dancer) a classic work originally choreographed by the supreme master, Marius Petipa at the Mariinsky theatre in 1887.
Also originally choreographed by Marius Petipa, Tchaikovsky's famed ballet, The Sleeping Beauty, which premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1890, remains one of the best-loved ballets in the classical repertoire.
Interpreted by the State Ballet of Georgia, this new production comes alive on stage at ROHM, accompanied by the PKF-Prague Philarmonia conducted by Alevtina Ioffe.
SYMPHONIC CONCERTS
In addition to the aforementioned concert with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and Chorus under the baton of the ilustrious Valery Gergiev,
ROHM is proud to present Gustav Mahler's famous Third Symphony with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Emmanuel Villaume.
This represents a milestone, as it the first time that a Mahler symphony has been performed in Oman. Gustav Mahler was one of the leading composers of his generation in the late Romantic period. His Third Symphony was voted the tenth greatest of all time in a BBC Music Magazine Survey.
In an entirely new kind of concert, the incredibly virtuosic castanet artist, Lucero Tena performs with the Accademia Teatro alla Scala Orchestra under the baton of the award-winning conductor, Óliver Díaz. The previously mentioned brilliant young violinist Giovanni Andrea Zanon stars as a soloist in the concert.
SPECTACULAR SHOWS, WORLD MUSIC AND JAZZ
ROHM's stage will be transformed into a real ice rink for the spectacular show, Opera on Ice, which combines the inspirational artistry of operatic singing with the virtuosic talent and grace of world-class ice skating. The Royal Opera House is pleased to announce the extraordinary participation of the acclaimed Austrian baritone, Markus Werba as a star recitalist in this amazing show.
Described as an exuberant theatrical coup never before created outside the movies, Namaste India takes audiences on an authentic cultural tour of India, capturing the searing energy of Indian dance in an incredible musical produced by the very best of Bollywood's creative talent.
AND, for the first time ever, the Royal Opera House Muscat will present a music festival - The Oman World Festival of Folk Music with companies from Oman and around the world celebrating the unique traditions of folk music in their homelands. Professor Issam El Mallah will fill you in on the details very soon.
In one of the very special highlights of the season, ROHM presents superstar, Zucchero, the multiple award-winning singer-songwriter known as King of the Blues. Famed for his unique sound and gorgeous lyrical talent, Zucchero has sold over 80 million records and played in prestigious venues around the world.
A magnificent new voice in Portuguese Fado, Claudia Aurora, takes Fado into the twenty-first century, while keeping the evocative qualities of this compellingly fateful music. Accompanied by superb instrumentalists, Aurora's music embraces elements of flamenco and tango.
Muscat loves jazz, and ROHM's new season features the most influential figure in modern Afro-Cuban jazz - Chucho Valdés and his fabulous Quintet. Chucho Valdés' style combines key elements from Afro-Cuban music, jazz, classical music, rock and other genres.
With her strikingly sensual voice, British singer and songwriter, Sarah Jane Morris continues to scale greater heights in a unique and ever-evolving career. She is rated by some aficionados as "one of the world's great jazz-soul vocalists of the past twenty years".
ARAB PERFORMANCES
The Royal Opera House continues its tremendously popular series of Arab performances and I now kindly request Professor Issam to present illuminating details of ROHM's new Arab program.
PROFESSOR ISSAM…
THANK YOU, PROFESSOR ISSAM
EDUCATION AND OUTREACH
It is now my pleasure to invite on stage Lisa Navach, Manager of ROHM's Education and Outreach Department. Lisa will give a presentation of the new 2018-2019 Education and Outreach programme.
LISA….
THANK YOU, LISA.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
FURTHER INFORMATION
The Press Release for this conference contains further details on all the performances, as does ROHM's new seasonal booklet and the website.
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS
if any additional programs or events are to be added to ROHM's rich schedule for 2018-19 as the new season unfolds, the details will be announced in a timely fashion. And please don't forget to make use of the ROHM website and ROHM's mobile App to keep up-to-date.
CONCLUSION & THANKS
In closing, I am pleased to take this opportunity to recognise and thank all members of the Royal Opera House staff for their steadfast dedication and hard work. They have helped put together a truly extraordinary new season.
Our staff are the heart and soul of ROHM. They are all wonderful people and it is a great joy for me to work with them. I give my most sincere and heartfelt thanks to each and every one of them.
I would like to add my thanks to those given earlier by His Highness Sayyid Kamil to the Press for coming here today to share our enthusiasm for ROHM's New Season. We greatly appreciate your commitment in keeping your readers, viewers and listeners well-informed from the start to the end of our Seasons.
NOW WE GIVE THE FLOOR TO THE AUDIENCE TO ASK QUESTIONS...
And, on my part, I wish you all a Bon Voyage with ROHM!