All the world's a stage in Dubai

Dubai Opera has just celebrated its first 100 days of operation, with more than 60 shows delivered and passing the milestone of 100,000 tickets sold along the way.

Whilst these achievements are ones of which everyone who works at Dubai Opera is exceptionally proud, we all recognise that we are really just starting out on the path towards our goal of regularly bringing world-class cultural, artistic and entertainment opportunities to the residents of Dubai and the UAE, along with establishing ourselves as a valuable tourist attraction to add to the many other great offers in Dubai.

If we are to continue to host magical performances in the heart of Downtown Dubai then we need to ensure we learn from every show that takes place in Dubai Opera and offer our customers an enhanced experience across an even wider range of shows.

We have already announced a number of exceptional events in our 2017 programme, starting the year with CATS and following with sensational international productions of West Side Story, Madam Butterfly, La bohème and Mary Poppins, along with outstanding concerts by the likes of Michel Legrand. We’ve begun to develop indoor festival experiences with the first ever presentation in the GCC of the incredible BBC Proms in March, after which we’ll welcome a crossover music festival concept, White Nights Dubai.

We have also started to broaden our offer into connected genres with the recent announcement of two spectacular film and live orchestra projects, with Jurassic Park and Raiders of the Lost Ark set for the Dubai Opera stage in April. Anyone who hasn’t seen a Hollywood blockbuster accompanied by a full live symphony orchestra has never truly experienced the incredible power of music to bring films to life. Jurassic Park and Raiders of the Lost Ark may take you to different realms but both are packed with adventure and suspense as well as some of the greatest modern film music ever composed.

The 21st Century Symphony Orchestra is now widely acknowledged as one of the best in the world at delivering spine-tingling experiences of this kind – do not miss the chance to see and hear them in action whilst at the same time reliving two classic films in the splendour and comfort of Dubai Opera.

There is much more to come, covering many more genres, titles, artists and productions to reach our target of a minimum of 200 events taking place in our auditorium every year.

As the Opera District develops around us there are also other cultural opportunities for us to deliver. We have already installed two new commissions for the Opera Plaza — wonderful sculpture pieces by Sahand Hesamiyan and Beth Cullen-Kerridge and we are exploring other options to complement the public realm spaces around us for 2017.

And, of course, over the next few months we’ll be able to welcome Dubai Opera-goers and others to our new Sky Restaurant, with its spectacular views of the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Fountains.

We’re exceptionally grateful to so many people for supporting us during our first 100 days and we very much look forward to the next period and the future beyond with continued strong and positive collaboration with our key sponsors and partners at Dubai Opera.

Most of all, we’re looking forward to welcoming existing and new audiences throughout 2017 to the magic of world-class live entertainment at Dubai Opera.

We hope to see you soon at one of our shows.

Jasper Hope, chief executive at Dubai Opera