![Kuwaiti opera singer Amani Hajji, practices at the Higher Institute for Musical Arts in Kuwait City on April 12, 2018.
Hajji, Kuwait's first opera singer with a small but dedicated local following, has for the past 20 years refused to give up on her dream of making opera mainstream in her native Kuwait. / AFP PHOTO / YASSER AL-ZAYYAT](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/KVKSW5AIXH45QPHHAWCAZLTS7A.jpg?smart=true&auth=15e39830672289088b3130326157f8e4b0556b427d172722b3d7b8737b1164a8&width=400&height=225)
Kuwaiti opera singer Amani Hajji practices at the Higher Institute for Musical Arts in Kuwait City on April 12, 2018. Yasser Al Zayyat / AFP
Kuwaiti opera singer Amani Hajji practices at the Higher Institute for Musical Arts in Kuwait City on April 12, 2018. Yasser Al Zayyat / AFP
Kuwait's first soprano brings Puccini to the Gulf
A soprano by training, and with her trademark bob haircut, Amani Hajji is Kuwait's first opera singer with a small but dedicated local following