It looks like adventure runs in the family. This summer, Xavier, Aladdin’s little brother, must beat an evil conductor to get the girl of his dreams.
Xavier and Aisha’s Amazing Choral Adventure, which runs at the Dubai Opera Studio on July 6 and 7, has been devised by the students of Sidney Sussex College Cambridge and co-ordinated by the institutions’ Composer in Residence Joanna Marsh.
Marsh is a regular in the UAE classical music scene — her recent shows included a BBC Proms showcase at the Dubai Opera. Her credentials include a composition for Queen Elizabeth, called The Falcon and the Lion, written for the UK monarch’s visit to Abu Dhabi in 2010.
Ahead of the musical, Marsh told Gulf News tabloid! why it’s a perfect summertime watch.
Why should people see Xavier and Aisha’s Great Choral Adventure? What’s its USP?
Xavier and Aisha’s Great Choral Adventure is a show devised by the students of Sidney Sussex Cambridge to give children and young people in the UAE a taste of some fantastic choral music they might not otherwise experience. The students came up with an adventure story that crosses lots of continents in order to present the music from different cultures. It is basically a good old traditional tale of goodies and baddies, where the good guy finally gets the girl of his dreams. But in the show there are lots of opportunities for audience interaction and as it is an intimate space, the Dubai Opera studio, everyone will feel very close to the action.
How did your involvement in the project come about? Tell us about the process of putting the show together.
I am currently the Composer in Residence at Sidney Sussex and as was keen to bring the choir out to Dubai this year during my residency. It was a challenging thought to find things to do with them in July when many people are leaving town, but the opera house was open to the possibility of finding a way to provide something for those families who were still here, and this show is devised with that in mind. So the idea first came about last autumn and the choir have lots of lovely pieces to put together to make a programme of music but putting it together with action to form a show is a completely new thing for them. But it has been great watching everything coming together.
What challenges did you face?
A college choir from Cambridge University is not a team of professional actors, they are young people who have to go to lectures, sit exams, hopefully attend graduations (certainly at this time of year) and between all of these activities fit their singing. They are all choral scholars, which means they were all were appointed to the choir at the time of their application to the university. This means they are committed to the choir for the duration of their time at Cambridge. The college choirs tend to sing exclusively in chapel, so this show is very much a new departure. They are loving working on it — so much enthusiasm. It has a very special charm about it.
You like to use regional influences when composing your own tunes. Have you tweaked the show for the UAE?
The show was written especially for the performances at Dubai Opera. Its hero, Xavier, is a little known brother of Aladdin, the beloved fictional character associated with magical lamps and hoards of treasure. So there is a tinge of Arabia in the story, but otherwise it really is a tale that could be told anywhere in the world.
You’ve had your music performed at Dubai Opera before. What type of shows would you like to see the space doing more of?
Well I’m obviously a big fan of classical music, since that’s what I write, so always keen to see fabulous groups come out who have a proven reputation elsewhere in the world. But what is a super treat for me is to see real opera out in Dubai. That’s amazing and I personally will attend anything and everything that comes here.
What’s next for you?
I’m currently working on a carol for the BBC Singers that they are programming in December. It’s a bit strange writing a carol in the height of the summer 46 degree heat in Dubai, but this is my life these days.
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Don’t miss it!
Tickets for the two-hour show, Xavier and Aisha’s Amazing Choral Adventure, which runs on July 6 and 7, at 11am and 2pm, start at Dh50.
