Majida El Roumi, the acclaimed Lebanese soprano, gave a stunning performance this weekend at the Maraya Concert Hall in AlUla, Saudi Arabia.
El Roumi's concert came as part of the Winter in Tantora festival that has already hosted the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and a Dolce & Gabbana alta moda fashion show at nearby Jabal Ikmah. Winter in Tantora forms part of several events in AlUla, including AlUla Arts and AlUla Wellness Festival.
The singer delighted 500 fans on January 28 with a sold-out concert accompanied by the full Lebanese Orchestra, conducted by Lubnan Baalbaki.
With a career spanning five decades, the Kalimat singer is a cherished performer who launched her career in 1974 as a teenager, in a talent show. She is the daughter of notable singer and composer Halim El Roumi.
A vocal advocate of social change, Majida has long used her platform to highlight the suffering of those less fortunate. She was named as an ambassador of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation in 2001 and was appointed as the first Middle East Humanitarian Ambassador of the Bulgari – Save the Children Partnership in July 2014.
At the concert in AlUla, the singer addressed the audience to speak of the strong bond between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, describing her host nation as a “beloved country that has always welcomed us and provided us with the highest level of attention and care during the hardest years of the Lebanese war”.
“I pray to God to preserve the security, sovereignty and stability of this beloved country, every grain of its soil and every grain of soil in the Arab Gulf and the Arab world as a whole,” she said.
The concert took place inside the stunning 500-seater concert hall – the world’s largest mirrored structure, designed by Florian Boje of the architectural design studio Gio Forma – that is nestled in a valley filled with Nabataean-carved tombs.
