“A Day in the Life” allows you to step into the shoes of a UAE resident to experience a typical 24 hours in their work and home life.
Few people can make a living out of being bossy, but for Monica Woodman, it’s been instrumental to her success.
As the conductor of Dubai’s all-female Firdaus Orchestra, Ms Woodman, 35, originally from Cuba, leads a 54-strong band of musicians in interpreting the work of famous composers.
The multilingual, multinational ensemble mentored by A R Rahman, India’s Oscar-winning composer, made its debut during Expo 2020 Dubai and has been steadily building a fan base in the region.
So far in her role, Ms Woodman has worked alongside some of the world's biggest celebrities, including Beyonce and Christina Aguilera, in her aim to make classical music accessible to everyone.
Here, The National goes behind the scenes with Ms Woodman as she shares her daily routine and speaks on the highlights of her career so far.
7.30am: Practice makes pitch perfect
Music has dominated Ms Woodman’s life since childhood and, after an early morning gym and meditation session, she goes through the orchestra’s scores and prepares for the day ahead.
“I started playing piano when I was seven years old and when I was 14. I saw someone in my school conducting a choir,” she says.
“I have always been a little bit bossy and I like to tell people what to do, so that resonated a lot with my personality. It just clicked that this was what I wanted.”
After switching her studies to choral conducting, Ms Woodman went on to achieve a master’s degree in symphonic orchestra conducting and flourished under the mentorship of esteemed composer Guido Lopez-Gavilan.
“There are very few platforms and orchestras that give a chance to young conductors,” she says.
“The stereotypical image is a German male with grey hair, so I had to prove myself three times more than any other person.
“Today I go through scores and make them unique to me. My experiences allow me to share what I believe is a true interpretation of a piece, which is very rewarding.”
1pm: Piano and life lessons
When she isn’t practising with the Firdaus Orchestra, Ms Woodman teaches piano and vocal technique to budding musicians in the Emirates.
As well as teaching, she uses her experiences as a young woman to show how music can shatter stereotypes.
“We are changing the narrative around women in the Middle East,” says Ms Woodman.
“It’s only about the quality of music, we have a bigger and more profound message underneath that’s very close to my heart as a female conductor.
“It's a male-dominated industry. So having all these women from Latin America, the GCC [Gulf Co-operation Council] and Europe all coming together for one purpose shows that art can change humanity.”
2pm: Queen B and Disney Magic
At least four hours of every day is dedicated to practising in the Expo City studio, gearing up for performances with musical royalty.
“We played with Beyonce in January at the opening of Atlantis The Royal, which was unreal,” says Ms Woodman.
“It shows the power of music, the power of women and the power of Firdaus because we are a very young orchestra and we’re accomplishing amazing things.
“We performed at the Coca-Cola Arena with the Disney princess concert. To bring 54 ladies together in one musical moment like that is incredible.”
Ms Woodman credits Expo 2020 and its legacy with bringing together so many talented musicians from around the world, with 26 nationalities represented in the Firdaus Orchestra.
“We will never be able to pay back what Expo does for us,” she says. “We owe so much to Her Excellency Reem Ebrahim Al Hashimy who made this dream possible.
“Expo is now our home. This is the place we come every day to make music and create magic and show the world that you can be a professional musician in Dubai as a female, no matter what part of the world you are from.”
6pm: Turning classical music on its head
Most of Ms Woodman’s evenings are spent recording with the orchestra and, when pressure is high, she likes to view the world from another perspective.
“I'm very Cuban, so I do sometimes crazy things,” she says. “When I'm conducting for long hours, I like to decompress my lumbar spine with a headstand, regardless of who is in the studio.
"Last week, Grammy award winning flutist, Wouter Kellerman, was recording with us and I did my headstand during rehearsal, which got him very excited.
“For me, it’s just part of the creativity of being an artist.”
