by Inside the ornate Goldsmiths Hall near St Paul’s, one of Britain’s finest opera singers, Dame Sarah Connolly, is performing a piece of new work. As her powerful voice fills the room, busts of George III and George IV look forward, and chandeliers filled with real candles bounce against the ceiling.
It’s what you’d expect from a western classical music concert. Everything but one thing: the words Dame Sarah is singing in Arabic. Goldsmiths Hall played host to a screening of the new musical Zarqa Al Yamama, the first major musical produced by Saudi Arabia, and the world’s largest major musical in Arabic.
The title role is played by Connolly, a woman who can predict the future. The exhibition was introduced by Saudi Arabia’s culture minister Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, and featured singing by Sawsan al-Bahiti, known as the “first opera singer from Saudi Arabia”, as well as London-based soprano Amelia Wawrzon. At a reception down the hall, dates and non-alcoholic wine were served, while journalists from Saudi Arabia television interviewed dignitaries in traditional dress.
Zarqa is due to open in Riyadh in April, but its creators hope it will return to London soon, and are planning an international tour. Connolly explains that she spoke to the music director of the Royal Opera House, Antonio Pappano, about the idea of putting on the show, who said it was a “fantastic project”.
Connolly is under no illusions about how unusual the opera is. “It’s a completely new idea, which is as confusing to many people in Saudi Arabia as it is to people in the UK and elsewhere,” she says.
It was an “extraordinary challenge” to prepare for. The singer has two hours of Zoom Arabic lessons every day, which leaves her exhausted. “I like,” she says, “there are certain sounds that the Arabic speakers make in the throat, which is very difficult for us to use.” But after making some changes to the composer, she is determined to get it right for opening night.
Although Connelly does not speak Arabic, she explains that this is the case with much of her work over the years, in different countries around the world. “I don’t speak Czech or Russian, and I sing a lot in those languages,” she says. “I don’t see why this is any different.” She continues: “I understand every word I’m singing, but only because I’ve been told what it is.”
Connolly says she sang part of the new show to her Arabic language tutor, and the sound “settled” him. “He had never heard Arabic music sung with western opera voices before,” she explains. “I said, ‘Is that a good shock or a bad shock?’. And he said, ‘There isn’t, but I’ve never heard anything like it’.” Her teacher explained that not all Saudis will like the show, because there are “very religious people who don’t want to come and don’t like it – but then they won’t come anyway”. However, they hope that many more will come and enjoy it.
Based on an ancient story from pre-Islamic Arabia, Zarqa Al Yamama tells the story of Cassandra, a blue-eyed woman from the Geddes tribe who is blessed with the gift of foresight. Zarqa predicts the arrival of an opposing army to destroy her people, and the story follows the heroine as she tries to warn her leaders of the danger.
Connolly explains that some parts of Shakespeare’s Macbeth may have been inspired by the ancient tale: in it, Zarqa imagines that neighboring countries are going to be invaded as a moving forest, just like Birnam Wood. Zarqa is also like Macbeth’s witches, predicting the future.
Just like the rest of the opera, the music is a mixture of cultures: taking some harmonic tropes from Arabic music alongside Western classical music, including contemporary music.
Connolly speaks well of Saudi’s drive for the arts in recent years, as part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 project. “They have contributed a lot – I mean billions – to educating girls and women and opening up work opportunities in schools and colleges,” she says. “Since they’re educating women in the sciences and language and everything, I think it’s all great,” she says.
Dame Sarah has been a staunch opponent of Brexit, and the restrictions that mean British musicians can only work in the EU for a limited number of days each year. She says in response, some European music productions stopped accepting British musicians as a rule. The immediate and obvious issue is that the number of roles available to Brits has drastically decreased, which adds to further competition between musicians.
“I’ll take the work wherever it is, but I’m sorry we’re limited now. The opportunities, not only from Europe, are diminishing, but they are diminishing from our own Government.”
After long periods without much of it, Saudi Arabia is opening up to live music. In 2017, probably 25 years since their last public concert, many American country music stars were invited to play, and dance music festivals have sprung up since then.
Classical music is central to the plans: the newly built Maraya Concert Hall in the city of AlUla is the world’s largest mirrored building, and late last year, the Saudi National Orchestra and Choir performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.
Art galleries are also in the works. A Saudi investor paid $450 million for Leonardo Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi in 2017, making it the most expensive painting in the world.
As sports fans know, football is also seeing major investment, with players such as Cristiano Ronaldo moving to the Kingdom, and buying Newcastle United – the country is also set to host the 2034 World Cup. The country has also invested heavily in golf, boxing and Formula One. At his country’s future investment initiative in 2018, leader Prince Mohammed bin Salman famously declared that “the renaissance to come in the next 30 years will be in the Middle East”.
It also looks like the British Government will be working with Saudi Arabia in the arts. On Wednesday, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer posted a picture with the Saudi Culture Minister, writing in a caption that she took the meeting to “talk about how the UK can continue to work with Saudi Arabia on cultural projects ahead of its meetings with our world leaders. cultural institutions”.
The new musical Zarqa is a truly global collaboration. Italian stage director Daniele Finzi Pasca has previously produced two Winter Olympic ceremonies and worked with Cirque du Soleil. The show will also feature the Czech Philharmonic choir, the Dresdner Sinfoniker orchestra, conducted by Spaniard Pablo González, and the Australian composer Lee Bradshaw, who worked closely with the Saudi writer and poet Saleh Zamanan to create the script.
The words were then translated into Latin Arabic and phonetic, which was not easy at all – as explained by Ivan VukÄ ević, CEO and project manager, saying that it was one of the most difficult but most rewarding projects he had been involved in of ever. The cast also includes singers from Saudi Arabia and 60 extras. A new concert hall at the King Fahad Cultural Center in Riyadh is being built especially for the premiere.
Connolly’s ambitions for the show are not too high. “I wish my Arabic was good enough not to make them say, ‘Oh my God, what the hell was she trying?'” she laughs. “That would be my worst nightmare.” She is quietly confident of success, however. “I’m a perfectionist. I think they will be overwhelmed by the beauty of the day.”
Zarqa Al Yamama will debut at the newly renovated King Fahad Cultural Center in Riyadh on April 25, and will run for a series of performances until May 5. moc.gov.sa
