18 September 2025

Candlelight: Valentine’s Day Special

Anantara Eastern Mangroves Al Salam Street, Al Kheeran, Abu Dhabi

A romantic evening of popular tunes, played by a string quartet and lit by candlelight. An evening stroll along the edge of the mangroves should help the mood, too. The programme lasts about an hour; there are performances at 6pm [ ... ]

From AED AED 150

Past Lives: dir Celine Song (2023)

Manarat al Saadiyat Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Celine Song's first feature has been nominated in two of this year's Oscar categories (Best Motion Picture category and Best Original Screenplay – but criminally not Best Director). It's the story of a modern romance; Na Young’s family emigrated from [ ... ]

Free, but pre-register

The Holdovers: dir Alexander Payne (2023)

Manarat al Saadiyat Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

A warm-hearted and thoughtful holiday story of three lonely, shipwrecked people who find support in the most unlikely of places. A curmudgeonly teacher (Paul Giamatti) is forced to remain on campus at a New England prep school over Christmas to [ ... ]

Free

1 Minute to Krushit

Melrose Paramount Midtown, Al Mustaqbal Street, Dubai

A Dubomedy comedy night with alumni of its stand-up courses, at least 18 of them – they each get just one minute to make you laugh, there will be prizes, and it's free with no minimum spend (you need to [ ... ]

Free, but pre-register

The Jazz Solo

Theatre of Digital Arts Souk Madinat Jumeriah, Dubai

"Soft and classy" – an evening with pianist/singer Ryann Gibb, accompanied by ToDA's 360° visuals ...        

From AED 170

La Scala Theatre Ballet Academy

Dubai Opera

A second chance to see this gala programme by some of ballet's future stars. La Scala Theatre Ballet School is recognised as one of the world's leading classical ballet schools in the world and benefits from being associated with the [ ... ]

From AED 300

Mohit Takalkar: Hunkaro

Sharjah Art Foundation -- Calligraphy Square Sharjah

A second show for this performance piece, co-presented by Ishara Art Foundation, which invites the audience to practise the precious gift of attention through active, participatory listening. It interweaves three stories of human trials and tribulations, tied together by the [ ... ]

Free

Lucas and Arthur Jussen

The Arts Center @ NYUAD NYUAD Campus, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

The Dutch brothers have both been performing in public since early childhood, typically as a piano duo. For this Abu Dhabi Festival recital their programme includes works by Mozart, Schumann, Widmann, Debussy and Rachmaninov. Programme: Mozart Sonata in C Major [ ... ]

AED 100

Xposure International Photography Festival 2025

Aljada Sharjah

The ninth edition of the region's largest, broadest and generally most impressive festival of photography. It is based around a the exhibitions, solo and group, but importantly incudes a very full programme of authoritative talks and useful workshops; portfolio reviews [ ... ]

Free

Le Dîner de Cons

The Junction Unit H72, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The first of three more performances of the culture Emulsion production of Francis Veber's highly successful modern French farce. Pierre Brochant is one of the Parisian businessmen who have a weekly 'idiots' dinner', where guests bring along a dimwit who [ ... ]

AED 150

Wednesday Night Impro: Maestro

Courtyard Playhouse Street 4B, Al Quoz 1, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Ten actors converge for a night of scenes, songs and games based on audience suggestions. After each round you score the players on a scale of 1 to 5, and the one with the lowest score is eliminated. Eventually only [ ... ]

Free but donations welcome

Kristel Bechara: A Symphony of Shadows & Light

kanvas Dubai Unit 1, Al Khayat Art Avenue, 19th Street Al Quoz 1, Dubai

A retrospective for Kristel Bechara’s 15 years in the Emirates, curated by Astrid Lesuisse. kanvas described as "groundbreaking" the way Bechara’s art has been blended with cutting-edge technology – works animated by motion designer Viktor Lukacs are set against a [ ... ]

Free

Hussein Sharif: Re-framing Reality

Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

The Culture Foundation's big summer show is a major survey of four decades of work showcasing the multidisciplinary practice across painting, drawing, collage and sculpture of an artist acknoweldged as one of the UAE’s key postmodernists (he was one of [ ... ]

Free

Native: Plants in the UAE

Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

An exhibition that explores the plants indigenous to the UAE, looking at the surrounding atmosphere that affects its growth and gives it its unique variations of colour, texture, size and behaviour. "From the iconic Ghaf tree to the resilient desert [ ... ]

Free

Through the Seasons with Eric Carle

Cultural Foundation Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street, Abu Dhabi

For the first time in the region, the work of the noted illustrator and children’s book author (more than 70 titles to his name, including of course The Very Hungry Caterpillar) is celebrated through Carle’s brilliant imagery of the seasons, [ ... ]

Free

In Real Time

NYUAD Art Gallery Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery is celebrating its ten-year anniversary with a characteristically interesting exhibition. In Real Time is a dynamic show – over the course of three months the curators will be adding artists, and the artists and performers [ ... ]

Free

Les Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois: Concert for Peace

Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi Reem Island, Abu Dhabi

The famous French a cappella boys' choir – made up of boys between 9 and 15 years old, and for some reason styled in English as The Little Singers of Paris – is coming to the Sorbonne for a free [ ... ]

Free, but pre-register

The Eternal Memory (La memoria infinita): dir Maite Alberdi (2023)

Manarat al Saadiyat Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

This critically acclaimed Chilean documentary film follows the relationship of Chilean journalist Augusto Góngora, one of Chile's most prominent cultural journalists and TV presenters, and actress Paulina Urrutia (who served as Minister of Culture and the Arts of the country [ ... ]

Free

Le Dîner de Cons

The Junction Unit H72, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The penultimate performances of the culture Emulsion production of Francis Veber's highly successful modern French farce. Pierre Brochant is one of the Parisian businessmen who have a weekly 'idiots' dinner', where guests bring along a dimwit who can be ridiculed. [ ... ]

AED 150
The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera

Dubai Opera

Continuing its policy of attracting established blue-chip touring performances, Dubai Opera is running Broadway Entertainment Group's production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's critically acclaimed musical for a three-week run. The story is based on Gaston Leroux's classic novel of a musical [ ... ]

From AED 350

Listening for Traces: Conflict, Sound & Memory

The brand new Rizq Art Initiative in Abu Dhabi continues to impress. Its second exhibition is an experimental examination of the enduring impact of conflict on people, places, language, and relationships through the medium of sound; it's curated by Cathy [ ... ]

Aya Haidar: Battlegrounds

Tabari Artspace Gate Village Level 2, DIFC, Dubai

The inaugural exhibition of the Lebanese-British artist at this gallery, where she has recently joined the roster. Aya Haidar’s practice addresses themes related to womanhood, invisible labour, forced displacement, Homeland and territory, social constructs and inequalities; positioned at the intersection [ ... ]

Free

Mandy El-Sayegh : A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose

Lawrie Shabibi Unit 21, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

The inaugural solo exhibition at Lawrie Shabibi for London-based artist Mandy El-Sayegh is a combination of painting, installation, video, sound, and performance that showcases her characteristic ‘bricolage’ approach, connecting disparate visual cultural knowledge to create new meanings. Says the gallery: [ ... ]

Free

Between Fiction and Dreams

Andakulova Gallery Unit 18, P4 Level Damac Park Towers, DIFC , Dubai, United Arab Emirates

A group show by three artists from Karakalpakstan, an autonomous area of Uzbekistan: Bakhtiyar Serekeyev, Timur Shardimetov and Salomat Babajanov. "They introduced the rebellious spirit of expressionism and uninhibited painting into local art, which was very traditional in themes and [ ... ]

Free

Sikka Art and Design Festival 2024

Al Shindagha Dubai Creek, Dubai

The 12th edition of Sikka runs from 23 February to 3 March 2024 at the Al Shindagha Historic Neighbourhood (it’s moved from Al Fahidi to simplify access and increase the range and number of exhibits and event spaces – all [ ... ]

Free

All the Wild Things

421 Arts Campus Mina Zayed, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

A weekend of regional films that explore the climate crisis, cureated for 421 by Cinema Akil. As well as . This expansive program includes film screenings, talks, workshops, activations, and family-friendly screenings too. The mini festival includes screening of feature-length [ ... ]

Free. but pre-register for individual screenings

The Jazz Night with Lady J

Theatre of Digital Arts Souk Madinat Jumeriah, Dubai

ToDA transforms into a jazz venue for live performance accompanied by a 360° immersive show: this time it's Lady J & her trio in a 90-minute set. "Expect a sparkling arrangement of the Grooviest Classics together with jazzed-up Radio Hits [ ... ]

From AED 140

The UAE Classical Talents: A Night of Eastern and Western Echoes – Jelena Matvejevskaja (piano) and Nicolas Mann (violin)

Alliance Française Dubai Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The latest in this fourth Alliance Française series of concerts highlighting locally-based classical musicians features two returnees in an East-meets-West programme – works by Bach, Bloch, Sarasate, Pärt, Lecuona, Berliner and Tchaikovsky. (The price here is for non-members; AF members [ ... ]

AED 130

Le Dîner de Cons

The Junction Unit H72, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The fifth and final performances of the culture Emulsion production of Francis Veber's highly successful modern French farce. Pierre Brochant is one of the Parisian businessmen who have a weekly 'idiots' dinner', where guests bring along a dimwit who can [ ... ]

AED 150
The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera

Dubai Opera

Continuing its policy of attracting established blue-chip touring performances, Dubai Opera is running Broadway Entertainment Group's production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's critically acclaimed musical for a three-week run. The story is based on Gaston Leroux's classic novel of a musical [ ... ]

From AED 350

Politically Incorrect Comedy

The Clavichord Signature Hotel, Barsha Heights, Dubai

A Mad Cat Comedy gig: local standups "with a few international dropins". The ticket price includes a free drink.  

AED 70

Lala Rukh: In the Round

Al Mureijah Art Spaces Al Mureijah Square, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

The first major survey of the late artist, feminist organiser and pedagogue Lala Rukh brings together more than 50 drawings, prints, photographs, videos and animation works from across her three-decade practice. The artist captured the diverse rhythms of lunar movements, [ ... ]

Free

Henok Melkamzer: Telsem Symbols and Imagery

Sharjah Art Museum Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

With more than 100 works, many on view for the first time, this exhibition is the largest solo presentation by telsem artist Henok Melkamzer. Traditionally termed a healing or talisman art, telsem is a distinctive Ethiopian art form that incorporates [ ... ]

Free

Olivier Souffrant: In Plain Sight

Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery 796 Jumeirah Street, Dubai

In his work, the NY-based Haitian artist references both African American masters such as Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, and Jean-Michel Basquiat and European painters like Botticelli, Van Gogh, and Picasso. Souffrant uses everyday materials such as magazines, online publications, computers, [ ... ]

Free

Ahmad Moualla: Combustions

Fann à Porter The Workshop, Villa 45, St. 23b, off Al Wasl Road (opposite Box Park), Jumeirah 2, Dubai

The Syrian artist's first solo exhibition with this gallery (and his first show in eight years) is a series of new works on paper created in 2023. Considered one of the pioneers of modernism and expressionism in Syria, Moualla was [ ... ]

Free

Echoes of Infinite: Poetry’s Visual Symphony

Farjam Foundation Unit GF-97 Gate Avenue, DIFC, Dubai

The Farjam Foundation isn’t a particularly activity gallery, but it does have access to an excellent private collection that spans early Islam to present-day artistic practice across regional geographies and beyond. So when it puts on a show of selected [ ... ]

Free

Zhivago Duncan: The Rare But Known Phenomenon

Meem Gallery Umm Suqeim Rd, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

It's a pleasure to find an artist who is prepared to expand on their principles, and to do with Zhivago Duncan's level of articulation. "Within this new collection," writes Duncan, "I have endeavoured to distill the complexity of ideas and [ ... ]

Global Notes: Marcos Madrigal

Dubai Opera Studio Downtown Dubai, Dubai

The Global Notes series of recitals from Encore Performing Arts, Dubai Opera and the Royal Grammar School Guildford Dubai continues with Marcos Madrigal, an outstanding young pianist from Havana. One recent review said "he plays with taste, musicality, lyricism and [ ... ]

AED 265
The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera

Dubai Opera

Continuing its policy of attracting established blue-chip touring performances, Dubai Opera is running Broadway Entertainment Group's production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's critically acclaimed musical for a three-week run. The story is based on Gaston Leroux's classic novel of a musical [ ... ]

From AED 350

Politically Incorrect Comedy

Canopy by Hilton Dubai Al Seef Al Seef Street, Umm Hurair 1, Dubai

"Dubai's wildest comedy nigt", courtesy of Mad Cat Comedy. The ticket price includes two drinks.  

AED 100

James Blunt: The Who We Used To Be Tour

Coca-Cola Arena City Walk, Dubai

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 [ ... ]

From AED 150

Nalini Malani: Can You Hear Me?

Concrete

This show looks like something of a coup for Alerkal Avenue. Widely considered the pioneer of video art in India, and embodying the role of the artist as social activist, Malani has a 50-year multimedia practice that includes photography, painting, [ ... ]

Free

Aref Montazeri: Immortal Mirror

Leila Heller Gallery Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Montazeri's solo show emphasises the mirror's role as a time capsule, capturing time layer by layer – "with a single gaze, time halts, letting the audience see themselves in the present, amid past moments and a myriad of images within [ ... ]

Free

Carpets of Eden, Gardens of Fantasy

Leila Heller Gallery Dubai, United Arab Emirates

This exhibition of carpets designed by artists and curated by Behrang Samadzadegan is described by the gallery as "a territory where artists navigate unbridled fantasies ... Like architects of dreams, they go beyond the surface, delving into the unseen, weaving [ ... ]

Free

Eco(ed) Visions

A group show, curated by Sanaz Askari, that brings together artists whose works explore nature's sanctuary amidst the urban sprawl, forging an intimate connection. The starting point is Mark Foster Gage's proposal that urbanisation has transformed architectural edifices into the [ ... ]

Alserkal Art Week

Alserkal Avenue Al Quoz 1, Dubai

The always enjoyable Alserkal Art Week, a taster for Art Dubai that has become established in the own right, runs this time from 25 February to 3 March. All the Alserkal Avenue galleries seem to be committed, along with guest [ ... ]

Free

Gone With the Wind: dir Victor Fleming (1939)

Manarat al Saadiyat Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland and Hattie McDaniel star in one of the classic American movies. It won 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. A genuine bucket-list movie, another good pick by the inestimable Cinema Space, and good [ ... ]

Free

Lawrence Brownlee

The Arts Center @ NYUAD NYUAD Campus, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

For this Abu Dhabi Festival appearance the American bel canto tenor will sing operatic selections from Rossini to Verdi, to the piano accompaniment of Fabio Centanni.

AED 100
The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera

Dubai Opera

Continuing its policy of attracting established blue-chip touring performances, Dubai Opera is running Broadway Entertainment Group's production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's critically acclaimed musical for a three-week run. The story is based on Gaston Leroux's classic novel of a musical [ ... ]

From AED 350