The first grand opera to be produced in Saudi Arabia has had its opening performance in Riyadh – part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s massively ambitious plans to shift the kingdom into a new era, economically and socially.

Zarqa Al Yamama is the story of a blue-eyed tribal matriarch with the gift of foreseeing the future in pre-Islamic Arabia.

Her predictions of imminent danger are ignored by her tribe – a story with a universal resonance according to Ivan Vukcevic, head of Arabian Opera. The company was set up in Switzerland to help develop the performance and teaching of classical music in the Middle East.

“At its core lies the central female heroine with an extraordinary gift of foresight, advocating for reason and love in the face of adversity, even at the expense of her own life,” he says. describing it as an epic tragedy familiar to many in the Arabic-speaking world.

When the idea of a lavish new opera in Arabic was first presented two years ago, Mr Vukcevic and his company were initially taken aback and puzzled.

They wondered how the Arabic language, which is written from right to left, could be integrated into Western classical music notation which goes from left to right. But the standardised romanisation of Arabic helped resolve the issue.

The Arabic libretto has been written by Saudi poet Saleh Zamanan, while the music is by Australian composer Lee Bradshaw.

“The brief, as I understood it, was this was to be a Western opera with an influence of Arabic and particularly Saudi music,” Mr Bradshaw explains.

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