What to expect at the second edition of Dubai Classics

Two of the world's greatest orchestras will perform at the second annual Dubai Classics. We speak to the Italian conductor Alessandro Fabrizi ahead of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's performance in Dubai on February 19.

The Italian conductor Alessandro Fabrizi will lead the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Dubai. Courtesy: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

You don’t need to understand a thing about music to be moved by it. To enjoy literature or film, a knowledge of language and form is essential. But music? It shakes to the bones without any familiarity with melody, harmony or rhythm. Sound has the power to emote naturally, before any mental processing.

This, anyway, is the view of Alessandro Fabrizi, the Italian conductor who will lead the renowned Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as it performs as part of the second Dubai Classics event on February 19.

“It’s a question of vibrations,” he says. “Music produces vibrations and they arrive inside a person, directly into the nervous system.

“We’re speaking now but we’re using the brain, using logic – but that doesn’t happen with music. Of course, we also use the brain – but that’s a reaction, it’s not the first contact. Music goes directly into our neurons, like nothing else in the world.”

It’s a theory the conductor put into practice as part of an ambitious research project called Music and Neuroscience, which examined the brainwaves of participants while they were listening to music and included a series of concerts by the RPO.

Fabrizi cites several studies into the so-called “Mozart effect” that claim to show how exposure to music can affect people’s moods and workplace productivity.

“It’s been proved – music has the power to affect people’s brains and actions for hours afterwards, in all degrees,” he says. “Music therapy is better than some medicine.”

It is this effect that the conductor will be channelling when he leads the RPO at Dubai World Trade Centre on February 19.

Fabrizi has worked with more than 20 orchestras, from Berlin to Seoul, but his frequent collaborations, since 2011, with the historic London ensemble is one that he is most proud of.

“For me it is an absolute privilege to come to Dubai with the RPO,” he says. “They are very organised, very fast, and very versatile. Working with them is a big pleasure. With them it’s not just a name. They are truly great; they stand among the best orchestras in the world.”

Conducting in the Middle East for the first time, Fabrizi will lead the orchestra through a programme that includes famous pieces of classical music that are most familiar through their use in film.

While the choices may not have been his, he hopes they will help educate unfamiliar audience members in the great classical tradition.

“The film music, I think it might help give something to the people, and make them passionate to hear more classical music,” he says.

"And this may be music from films – OK, Dukas's Sorcerer's Apprentice, everyone will recognise this from a Disney cartoon – but it's an absolute masterpiece. And hearing it from an orchestra could be the beginning for someone, the door to more interesting classical music."

Also performing

The Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, conducted by its founder Vladimir Spivakov, will perform on February 20, the second and final night of Dubai Classics. The former Unesco Artist for Peace will lead the 35-piece ensemble, which includes notable soloists from orchestras across Russia, through a programme that includes works by Mozart, Rossini, Tchaikovsky and Piazzolla. The second edition of Dubai Classics is held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai.

• The Royal Philharmonic ­Orchestra will perform as part of Dubai Classics at Dubai World Trade Centre on Thursday, February 19, and the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orcestra will perform on Friday, Febraury 20; both concerts will start at 7pm. Tickets from Dh350 are available on www.platinumlist.ae