Zarqa Al Yamama, Riyadh: a bold attempt, but Saudi Arabia’s first grand opera falls flat
As Saudi Arabia continues its quest to establish itself as a cultural force on the world stage, investing significantly in its cultural heritage, it has turned to opera as a way forward. There is a new opera house being built, aiming for completion in 2029. Meanwhile, opera has temporarily taken over the huge King Fahad Cultural Center in Riyadh, which has been rapidly repurposed to accommodate the world premiere of a new opera specially commissioned by the country’s Theatre and Performing Arts Commission.
Zarqa Al Yamama is billed as Saudi Arabia’s first home-grown grand opera. It is an international collaboration, with a cast led by our own Sarah Connolly (who has been very critical of some aspects of the Saudi government regime in recent times), a Swiss designer, a Spanish conductor, a Czech chorus, a German orchestra, an Australian composer – so what is actually Saudi Arabian about all this?
The homegrown core of the opera is the libretto, drawn from the poetry of the Saudi playwright Saleh Zamanan, based on one of the most powerful of the country’s tales. Zarqa is the far-seeing sage with blue eyes who looks to the future and can see far distances. In the work’s climactic moments, she warns her Jadis tribe about the forthcoming approach of the warring tribe behind the advancing trees on the plain (think Birnam Wood coming to Dunsinane). But her warnings go unheeded, her tribe is destroyed and her eyes are gouged out by the brutish Commander of King Taba’s army.
This is the strongest narrative section of the piece: too much else is devoted to watery reflections on life, love and pain, interspersed with an over-emphasis on the warring tribes and the frustrated wedding celebrations for the virgin Afira and her husband-to-be Naoufel, disrupted by King Amliq who claims the right to sleep with all Jadis girls (think the Count’s droit de seigneur in Figaro). The large, energetic chorus provides a lively backdrop to the story, marshalled by director Daniele Finzi Pasca with plenty of running flag-waving and celebration; the set designs by Luigi Ferrigno provide colourful backdrops with props made locally and digital screens by Roberto Vitalini.
The cast includes some exceptional voices, strongly led by Connolly, who seems to capture a genuinely folk-inspired line in some of her cantillations; Amelia Wawrzon excels as with the tragic Afira, while the striking tenor Paride Cataldo as Ben Afar Al Aswad grabs the front of the stage. There are Saudi singers of distinction in smaller roles: Eleen Al Jumaia, Reemaz Oqpi and Sawsan Albahti make a striking trio.
The problem with the whole enterprise, sadly, is the music, composed by Lee Bradshaw – we are told in association with Saudi musicians – which fails to establish a consistent tone. I would not claim to judge the Arabian influence on the score. but it is the melodic aspects that sound most convincing. Too often, the rest is like an echo of watered-down Shostakovich, with blaring unisons underpinned by grumbling basses, military gestures and milksop choruses. Pablo Gonsalez conducts the Dresden Sinfoniker with commitment, but struggles to make it add up.
Until May 4; dc.moc.gov.sa
