ROHM Announces Dazzling Productions for 2022-2023 Season

Muscat, 22 Aug (ONA) --- The Royal Opera House Muscat (ROHM) unveiled the new season for 2022 – 2023, which will kick off in September 2022.

The programme will be bringing more than fifty events and a grand total of ninety performances and cultural initiatives including six operas, nine Arab concerts, three ballet shows, nine concerts, two jazz stars, four world music celebrations, three spectacular shows, one permanent and two temporary exhibitions, and a rich schedule of educational and outreach events.

The 2022 – 2023 Season begins in spectacular fashion with ROHM’s critically acclaimed production of La Traviata returning to the opera house following the premiere of 2019, with direction from the doyenne of grand opera staging, Marta Domingo. ROHM announced announced the return to the opera house of one of one of the greatest artists of our time, Plácido Domingo.

As with the premiere, Domingo will perform the role of Germont on the opening night of the opera and will conduct for the following two evenings. The Domingo production claims a unique feature among others, that of the inclusion of choreography and dancers from the Compañia Antonio Gades, adding a passionate flare to a story already teeming with drama and love.

As for the 2022 performance, ROHM welcomes two of the greatest opera singers in the world in the roles of Violetta and Alfredo : Nino Machaidze and Vittorio Grigolo. The production will be performed by the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Carlo Felice of Genova conducted, in occasion of the first performance, by the acclaimed conductor Giampaolo Bisanti.

From the opera buffa of Mozart to the continuation of ROHM’s collaboration with the Rossini Opera Festival, the season has an appealing range of operas to choose from.

Engelbert Humperdinck’s full original opera Hansël und Gretel, one of the most performed operas in the world, reaches out to family audiences and it will be performed by the Deutsche Opera Berlin and conducted by Donald Runnicles.

The fourth in the series of farce presented by ROF, La Cambiale di Matrimonio, showcases ROHM hand in hand with the most respected Rossini artists. Excitingly for opera lovers, this production will be the first performance of the Critical Edition of this opera, with changes based on extensive research of historic archived scores bearing Rossini’s notations. The production will be conducted by the young talent Alessandro Bonato.

In January 2023, ROHM presents Donizetti’s opera L’Elisir d’Amore, performed by Teatro Lirico di Cagliari conducted by Jordi Bernacer with a stunning all-star cast of Nina Minasyan, René Barbera, and Erwin Schrott.

ROHM’s final two operas, in February and May 2023, are a pair from Mozart, the popular Le Nozze di Figaro, with the historical Giorgio Strehler direction and performed by the Accademia Teatro alla Scala and conducted by Sesto Quatrini and Così fan Tutte, for which ROHM welcomes Opera Australia, alongside the acclaimed director Sir David McVicar and the conductor Sebastian Lang-Lessing.

Kadim Al Sahir is enduringly, unfailingly popular with audiences for his charismatic and engaging style, with this in mind he is scheduled to appear early in the season. The Arabic programme is designed to encapsulate the season’s core emphasis on tradition, innovation, and talent.

The Omani Women’s Day concert, featuring a surprise guest artist, an incredibly talented young star from Kuwait, carries on an ROHM tradition while the house celebrates a different perspective with Oman Traditional Music traversing the regions to explore a rich heritage in Omani cultural expression in music.

ROHM will resume the series celebrating Umm Kulthum: an historic series paying homage to a legend whose legacy has brought joy to millions around the world as Kulthumiyat will feature Yosra Manouch and Mai Farouk.

Award winning singer, Hussain Al Jassmi, returns to the opera house for the second time due to popular demand. During Ramadhan in 2023, Sufi and Inshaad is presented in three special concerts offering reflection and celebrating the season.

Each concert brings a new group of musicians together, with the final concert starring the esteemed Lufti Bouchnak. The packed Arabic programme is concluded with the last two nights of the season which will be performed by Assi El Hallani with Marwa Nagy, in a joyful concert suitable to round off the season.

The ballet genre is represented this season by three landmark presentations. The first sees Roberto Bolle, étoile at La Scala and ballet superstar, bringing Roberto Bolle and Friends, a gala ballet gathering the ballets stars of the world together to create new and exciting choreography of the highest standard.

Cairo Opera brings a vibrant and colorful production of two stories, El Leila el Kebira, and Zorba the Greek. To round off the genre, Opera di Roma Ballet and the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sergey Smbatyan present the world acclaimed classic tale of Giselle, a much-loved ballet presented with choreography paying homage to Carla Fracci, the late director of Opera di Roma.

No less than nine concerts provide the backbone to this year’s season, delivering a range and choice of concerts. The concert run begins with Homage to ‘The Swan of Pesaro’ with the Rossini Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Nikolas Nägele, followed by the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra, alongside the stunning pianist Nikolai Kuznetsov conducted by Alessandro Cadario, with the year ending with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra starring Gile Bae on piano, conducted by Jan Latham-Koenig, a grand celebration of the conclusion of 2022.

The second half of the opera house season offers six further concerts exploring opera in Opera Hits with the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Lirico di Cagliari conducted by Gaetano Lo Coco and a special concert to be announced later in the season.

The second half also includes an incredible ensemble of elite musicians in Costa Rica Virtuoso Guitars; celebrating Mozart with the incredible famous Baroque orchestra ‘I Solisti Veneti’ conducted by Giuliano Carella; welcoming the acclaimed artists of the ‘Accademia Stauffer’ All Stars Orchestra with a beguiling programme of Vivaldi and Piazzolla; and, the annual tradition of the Pipe Organ Concert, heralding the return of Wayne Marshall as both organist and conductor, with ROSO and ‘Boni Pueri’, the boys’ choir of Czech.

ROHM also announced the rescheduling of Chris Botti. Botti is a consummate musician and performer who remains the top of the chart as the best-selling instrumentalist of all time in the US. He blends jazz with classical music demonstrating unbelievable musicality. He is matched only in jazz stature by the legendary Kenny Garrett who will also grace the season.

Shows which are brought to the opera house are unfailingly popular with ROHM audiences. For the new season ROHM announced three distinctive shows each bringing a special dimension to the season.

In October, the Compañía Flamenca Antonio Andrade, the Quinteto Cinco and three of tango’s most famous dance couples bring the world premiere of Flamenco meets Tango, a cultural match with passion and flare.

In an extraordinary production the Kataklò Athletic Dance Company brings the Carousel, a vibrant and sophisticated collection of an acclaimed repertoire of dance and musical theatre. Kataklò is known for productions of dazzling choreography and visual effects.

The final show of the season is Beyond Time; the Taiwanese production company takes audiences into another dimension, exploring themes of space and the solar system through drumming, acrobatics and more.

--- Ends/Anas