Cancelled: White Nights Dubai featuring Katherine Jenkins and Jamie Cullum at Dubai Opera

British singer Katherine Jenkins. Reuters

White Nights Dubai – an eclectic music series set to be headlined by Katherine Jenkins and Jamie Cullum – has been cancelled.

The festival concept was to be held on five nights over two weekends at Dubai Opera, between March 30 and April 8.

Other confirmed performers were tenor Alfie Boe, violinist David Garrett and pianist Khatia Buniatishvili

The news was broken to ticket holders with an email on Wednesday (February 22) evening, confirming full refunds will be issued.

A spokesperson from Dubai Opera made clear the decision was made by external promoters United Stage Middle East, who were behind the event, and passed on the following statement.

“United Stage Middle East have made the extremely difficult decision not to proceed with the White Nights in Dubai 2017 Classical Music Festival Season due to unforeseen circumstances, and we sincerely apologise to all the people this decision affects: the fans, artists, industry partners, corporate partners, suppliers and all of our supporters within the community of opera and classical music.

“We thank you for believing in our vision and supporting us from the beginning to see the success of our cultural initiatives. That being said, this is not the end and we will work on implementing this in the near future, and we hope to have the opportunity to have you support us again. We can assure you that every aspect has been reviewed and this decision has not been taken lightly.

“We regret any inconvenience this may have caused. We will be sure to compensate all ticket holders in full for tickets that have been purchased as part of your support for White Nights in Dubai.”

The earlier email to ticket holders gave the following advice:

“Full refunds are available from the point of purchase. For credit card bookings: refunds will be made back to the card used to make the purchase

“For cash bookings: refunds are available from the Box Office at Dubai Opera. Please note, refunds will take 7 – 10 working days to appear on your card. “Should you have ticketing enquiries, please contact [e-mail]”.”