20 new shows announced for Dubai Opera and Coca-Cola Arena

Ballet, opera and orchestra performances are on the schedule for September and October

Coca-Cola Arena, left, and Dubai Opera have announced new shows for the autumn season. Chris Whiteoak / The National; Alamy Stock Photo

Seventeen orchestral performances, two ballets and an operatic masterpiece are on Dubai's cultural agenda in autumn.

The country's events industry is springing back to life following closures amid the pandemic, with plenty on the schedule across the Emirates, including music concerts, comedy gigs and more.

This spate of new shows comes on the back of yesterday's announcement that Paul Van Dyk is coming to Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena on August 19 as part of Dubai Summer Surprises.

The German DJ will bring part of his Shine Ibiza residency centre stage, promising fans in the UAE a unique and Ibiza-styled experience with Shine DXB.

Here is what's new on the schedule for later this year:

InClassica International Music Festival

InClassica International Music Festival, the world's biggest musical observatory, will be held in the UAE for the first time from Friday to Sunday, September 10 to 26 at the Coca-Cola Arena. This will feature 17 concerts, 21 performers, eight conductors and five symphonic orchestras hailing from Jerusalem, Malta, Germany and Russia.

Proceedings begin with Well Tempered Chanson, starring Belgian violinist Leonard Schreiber, South Korean pianist Yeol Eum Son and conductor Marius Stravinsky, from the UK.

Performances of works by Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, and more, will take place.

Concerts begin at 7pm each night. Tickets starting from Dh75 can now be booked for 13 shows on the venue's website.

Covid-19 safety measures, including mask wearing and limited capacity, will be observed during the concerts. Proof of vaccination is not required, as per Dubai Government guidelines.

Ballet at Dubai Opera

Over at Dubai Opera, the Astana Ballet is all set to perform two separate shows in October.

First is The Legend of Love on Wednesday and Thursday, October 27 and 28. It is a poetic interpretation of the history of Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet by choreographer Yuri Grigorovich, first performed in 1961 at St Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre in Russia.

Queen Mekhmene Banu sacrifices her beauty to heal sister Shirin, making the destinies of the two inseparable until both hearts fall in love with one man, Ferkhad.

On Friday and Saturday, October 29 and 30, Astana Ballet will perform Sultan Baybars, choreographed by Mukaram Avakhri, a tale of a boy captured from his homeland Kypchak steppe and sold into slavery. He then rises to become one of the most revered army commanders in 13th-century Middle East and is catapulted onto the throne to become Sultan Baybars of Egypt and Syria. Yet he still craves for a land to call home.

All performances will take place nightly from 8pm. Tickets starting from Dh233 are now available online.

Covid-19 safety measures will be enforced and proof of vaccination will not be required.

Verdi opera

St Petersburg Chamber Opera will also be in town on Monday and Tuesday, October 11 and 12 with Verdi's masterpiece Rigoletto.

The plot stems from Victor Hugo's The King Amuses Himself and the main character is traditionally an old hunchback court jester.

In this take on the performance directed by Yuri Alexandrov, however, the protagonist is a sarcastic, witty and angry young man with a clownish appearance.

There will be one performance a night, starting from 8pm. Tickets starting from Dh300 are now available online.