Concert

The hip may find him unredeemably uncool, and his voice is definitely a bit of an acquired taste, but James Blunt's songs are well-crafted, articulate, often accessibly personal, and speak to a broad audience of wildly enthusiastic fans. It helps [ ... ]

This eight-month-long Simple Minds tour genuinely is global (they started in January in New Zealand: Dubai is a stop between Australasia and Europe) and they expect to play to over one million people worldwide, showcase their eighteenth studio album Direction [ ... ]

The rich melodic culture of Egyptian music from Dina El Wedidi is set alongside the harmonically sophisticated sounds of American jazz mixed with RnB and post-rock by Samora Pinderhughes. It’s an intimate, cross-boundary double bill, the first of two this [ ... ]

The groundbreaking vision of the iconic Tunisian artist is spotlighted in a performance ranging from folk music to electronica via straight-up rock. Mathlouthi is a songwriter, composer, guitarist, and singer with an otherworldly voice that sounds equally at home in [ ... ]

The UAE debut of the phenomenally successful Dutch violinist and conductor leading his Johann Strauss Orchestra, chorus, and a lineup of international soloists through a repertoire spanning classical masterpieces, waltzes, show tunes, and iconic songs from film, opera, and musicals. [ ... ]

A pioneer in reviving Islamic chanting heritage in modern arrangements and western harmony, El Tohamy is the son of the noted Sufi chanter Sheikh Yassin El-Tohamy. For this Abu Dhabi Festival concert he presents the world premiere of The Carpenter's [ ... ]

What looks like the largest and most ambitious concert yet – in nearly 60 years of performance – for Dubai Singers & Orchestra. Some 90 singers and a 60-piece orchestra will perform the seven-part requiem mass, one of classical music’s [ ... ]

Dubai Opera describes this as "a landmark musical event certain to leave an indelible imprint on the region's artistic tapestry". With allowances for hyperbole, the PR writer could be right; the MusicAeterna orchestra (and its associated choir) is been the primary [ ... ]

Bollywood Sufi from the pride of Rajasthan and his ensemble. Featuring “the finest musicians on an assortment of traditional instruments such as the dholak, harmonium, kartal, kamaycha, sarangi, morchang, bhapang, matka, tambura, bansuri as well as keyboard and saxophone”, we’re [ ... ]

It's 200 years since Betthoven's Ninth premiered, and this performance by the Polish National Opera Orchestra with the Dubai Festival Choir under the baton of Patrick Fournillier should provide a suitable tribute to what is undoubtedly a masterpiece of Western [ ... ]

This is the Dubai stop on Eastas Tonne's current international tour, with one concert in each city – Yerevan, Tbilisi, Athens, Istanbul, Limassol, and Dubai. Born in Ukraine, he does not identify himself with any particular nation; he says that [ ... ]

Hayk Petrosyan’s Merci Charles project, initiated in May 2021, pays homage to Charles Aznavour through his iconic songs – more than 20 of them in this concert, with a jazz-flavoured interpretation delivered by the Armenian singer and his band (Vahagn [ ... ]

Diwali would seem an entirely logical extension for the Candlelight series of candle-illuminated musical events. So we're happy to flag up two free concerts for the Festival of Lights, with the plaza in front of Etihad Arena transformed into an [ ... ]

When it comes to the classical repertoire, you don’t get much more mainstream than Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. It seems dangerous, even perhaps sacrilegious, to tinker with this much loved, immensely popular music. But because it has been played so often [ ... ]

On its first ever concert in the UAE, the Seoul Philharmonic under the baton of Jaap Van Zweden is joined by the award-winning violinist Sarah Chang for Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5 in D minor. The programme also includes Beethoven’s Symphony No.5 [ ... ]

The latest in Berklee Abu Dhabi’s concert series showcasing different musical styles and genres. Headlining are Canadian singer-songwriter JP Saxe (soulful R&B-influenced pop: he's on the left in the pic) and Jordanian singer/composer /producer Aziz Maraka (on the right: he's [ ... ]

A second Abu Dhabi Classics concert for the Seoul Philharmonic conducted by Jaap Van Zweden, again featuring a stellar young soloist in Inmo Yang. They will play one of the most popular concertos in the solo violin repertoire, Bruch’s Violin [ ... ]

Top international pianist plus full orchestra and “special guests”plays Disney soundtracks – "a musical and visual experience of Disney’s most popular songs”. Lang Lang has been touring his take on Disney for some time – Disney has a 60-minute TV [ ... ]

... and not just The Snowman: the completely brilliant animated film will be shown with live on-stage musical accompaniment by the National Youth Orchestra under the baton of Jonathan Barrett, but they will also be playing a concert of traditional [ ... ]

A Mezzotono concert is always engaging, always interesting. They describe themselves as a small orchestra without instruments – just five voices, quality singing, and a unique style which blends vocal harmonies, beatboxing, and vocal percussion. They aim to cover many [ ... ]

Imperial Orchestra, described as "a modern-day symphony orchestra from St Petersburg" with 120 musicians on stage under the baton of Lev Dunaev, returns to the Coca-Cola Arena for a second concert of orchestral arrangements of well-known cinema themes – including [ ... ]

Accolades like "accomplished singer/songwriter" and "talented musician" are bandied about all too easily; Mary Gatchell really does seem to deserve them. Here's a partial CV: A graduate of NYU with a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Theory and Composition [ ... ]

The New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1972; the charismatic Japanese conductor, Yutaka Sado, has been the music director since 2023 and he conducts two concerts to open the 2025 Abu Dhabi Festival. In this first concert, star tenor [ ... ]

In the second concert for the 2025 Abu Dhabi Festival with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yutaka Sado, the orchestra plays Yasushi Akutagawa’s Triptyque for Strings and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5. The soloist is the young rising star Kyohei [ ... ]

Born in 1980 in a nomadic Tuareg encampment just outside Agadez in Niger, Bombino (born Goumour Almoctar, also known as Oumara Moctar) came of age during much political upheaval, fleeing with his family to Algeria by 1990, and teaching himself [ ... ]

Max Richter, a leading figure in contemporary classical music and top film scores (and something of a favourite with Dubai audiences), is touring his latest studio album In a Landscape – field recordings from his travels and from around the [ ... ]

A concert for Ramadan, featuring less well-known Ramadan songs from across the Arab world that celebrate the Holy Month with music that connects the past and present in an intimate and inspiring evening, performed by Layth Sidiq (violin/voice), Samvel Gasparyan [ ... ]

In Japanese, the word ‘kodo’ can have two meanings – it can be translated as ‘heartbeat’, the primal source of all rhythm, and in a different context it can mean ‘children of the drum’, which reflects the group’s desire to [ ... ]

A second performance for the Abu Dhabi Festival by this troupe of highly skilled Japanese drummers