The Damascus Opera House (officially Dar al-Assad for Culture and Arts) (Arabic: دَارُ الْأَسَدِ لِلثَّقَافَةِ وَالْفُنُونِ) is the national opera house of Syria. Inaugurated on 7 May 2004, it is located in central Damascus, on the Umayyad Square.
Arabic: دَارُ الْأَسَدِ لِلثَّقَافَةِ وَالْفُنُونِ | |
 Damascus Opera House at the Umayyad Square (2010) | |
 | |
| Address | Damascus Syria |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 33°30′44″N 36°16′43″E / 33.51222°N 36.27861°E |
| Type | Multipurpose performing-arts building |
| Capacity | Opera Theater – 1,331 Drama Theater – 663 Multipurpose Hall – 237 |
| Opened | 7 May 2004 |
| Tenants | |
| Damascus Opera Company | |
| Website | |
| Damascus Opera company in Arabic (In English) | |
History
editDamascus already had an opera house in the 1900s. During the French colonial period, Shahbandar's People's Party held their inaugural meeting at the old Damascus Opera House in 1925.[1] Hafez al-Assad planned the opera house early in his rule, but work did not recommence until the 2000s and Assad's son Bashar and his wife opened the new opera house in 2004.[2]
The new Damascus Opera House
editThe opera house is a five-level building that includes a 1300-seat theatre for musical productions, a drama theatre of some 600 seats and a small multipurpose hall. Since its opening, it has been the venue of numerous theatrical performances and concerts of classical European or Arabic music, as well as of film shows, such as the European Film Festival in Syria, before the civil war started in 2011.
The Damascus Opera House is the main venue of the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra (SNSO) that has made frequent contributions to musical life in the Syrian capital. Compositions by contemporary Syrian composers have been performed by the SNSO, including works by Iraqi-born musician and educator Solhi al-Wadi, violinist Maias Alyamani,[3] pianist Malek Jandali,[4] or Zaid Jabri, featuring Syrian musicians with international careers, like clarinet soloist Kinan Azmeh.[5]
In 2014, the Opera House was the target of mortar attacks, attributed to rebels against the Syrian government. According to a report in The Times of Israel, two students of the adjacent Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts were killed and several more seriously wounded.[6]
Damascus Opera Company
editAside from visiting foreign artists, the company produced The Marriage of Figaro in 2010. In 2011, the general director of the house and its company was violinist Maria Arnaout, who produced the short opera Gianni Schicchi by Puccini, an international Oriental Music Festival and a Syrian version of the musical Oliver!, casting orphans after the model of Venezuela's El Sistema music organization with street children.[7] So far, the opera house has not included in its programmes opera in Arabic or art song in Arabic.
Organ
editOne of the world's four hovering air cushion organs is installed in the opera house. The organ was built in 2000 by the organ builder Aug. Laukhuff from Weikersheim in Germany. The instrument has 40 stops on four manuals. The organ can be raised with air cushions and moved on stage. By means of compressors, the air cushions are inflated to such an extent that they lift the 18-ton organ evenly and noiselessly until it floats above the ground. The organ can be moved and set up remotely at any point on the stage. Due to the ongoing civil war in Syria, the opera House lacks the money to maintain the instrument.[8][9][10]
See also
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References
edit- ^ Fawwāz, Layla Tarazī; al-K̲ālidī, Walīd; Manṣūr, Kamīl (2009). Transformed Landscapes – Essays on Palestine and the Middle East in Honor of Walid Khalidi. Cairo; New York City: American University in Cairo Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-9-774-16247-3."... Party inauguration on 5 June 1925, more than a thousand people crowded into Damascus Opera House to hear their leaders express freely and legally, for the first time since the Syrian Congress of 1920, the will of the Syrian people"
- ^ Adwan, Ziad (August 2016). "The Opera House in Damascus and the 'State of Exception' in Syria". New Theatre Quarterly. 32 (3): 231–243. doi:10.1017/S0266464X1600021X. ISSN 0266-464X.
- ^ "Longa Nehawand, Maias Alyamani & Maria Arnaout with SNSO – Damascus". YouTube. Archived from the original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
- ^ Jandali, Malek. "Yafa – live at the Damascus Opera House with The Syrian Symphony Orchestra". YouTube. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
- ^ "Kinan Azmeh premiering Zaid Jabri concerto". YouTube. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
- ^ Stojanovic, Dusan (6 May 2014). "In Damascus, opera house suffers modern tragedy". The Times of Israel. AP. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
- ^ Muhanna, Nadia (May 2011). "Q&A: Maria Arnaout General Director, Damascus Opera House". Syria Today. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011.
- ^ "Schwebende Klänge für Syrien" [Floating sounds for Syria]. Regional > Würzburg. Main-Post (in German). 9 March 2000. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ Doering, Martin (25 January 2006). "{Disposition der Orgel in / Specification of the Organ at} Dimašq (Damaskus), Nationaltheater". Die Orgelseite (in German). Archived from the original on 21 June 2024. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
- ^ Doering, Martin (3 July 2024). "Organs: Oddities and World Records : "Hovering" Organs". Die Orgelseite. Archived from the original on 21 November 2024. Retrieved 28 March 2022.