The Damascus Opera House (formerly Dar al-Assad for Culture and Arts) () is the national

opera house An opera house is a theater building used for performances of opera. Like many theaters, it usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, backstage facilities for costumes and building sets, as well as offices for the institut ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. Inaugurated on 7 May 2004, it is located in central Damascus, on the

Umayyad Square Umayyad Square ( / ALA-LC: ''sāḥat al-Umawiyīn'') is a large and important square in Damascus, Syria. It connects the city center with several important highways and areas, and contains important buildings, including the Ministry of Defense, ...

History

Damascus already had an opera house in the 1900s. During the French colonial period,

Shahbandar Shahbandar (), was an official of the ports in Safavid Persia and one also known on other shores of the Indian Ocean. The Shahbandar (Port Master) was in charge of the traders and the collection of taxes. The office of shahbandar first appeared ...

's People's Party held their inaugural meeting at the old Damascus Opera House in 1925.

Hafez al-Assad Hafez al-Assad (6 October 193010 June 2000) was a Syrian politician and military officer who was the president of Syria from 1971 until Death and state funeral of Hafez al-Assad, his death in 2000. He was previously the Prime Minister of Syria ...

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.

The new Damascus Opera House

The 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 Arabic music () is the music of the Arab world with all its diverse List of music styles, music styles and genres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also many linguistic Varieties of Arabic, dialects, with each countr ...

, as well as of film shows, such as the European Film Festival in Syria, before the

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

started in 2011. The Damascus Opera House is the main venue of the

Syrian National Symphony Orchestra The Syrian National Symphony Orchestra (, ) is the national symphony orchestra of Syria. Its home venue is the Damascus Opera House, and many of its members have been educated at the Higher Institute for Music in the same cultural complex on ...

(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, pianist

Malek Jandali Malek Jandali (, ) (born 1972) is a West Germany, West German-born Syrian-Americans, American composer and pianist, whose music integrates Middle-Eastern modes and Arabic maqams into Western structures of classical music. He is the founder of th ...

, or

Zaid Jabri Zaid Jabri () is a Syrian-Polish composer, conductor and music educator, who works at the intersection of Western and Middle Eastern musical traditions. He is one of the representatives of the so-called second generation of Syrian composers of ...

, featuring Syrian musicians with international careers, like

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

soloist

Kinan Azmeh Kinan Azmeh (, born June 10, 1976, in Damascus), is a Syrian clarinet player and composer of contemporary classical music based in New York City. Performing with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony, the Bavarian Ra ...

. 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 ''The Times of Israel'' (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist Dav ...

, two students of the adjacent Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts were killed and several more seriously wounded.

Damascus Opera Company

Aside from visiting foreign artists, the company produced ''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienn ...

'' in 2010. In 2011, the general director of the house and its company was violinist Maria Arnaout, who produced the short opera ''

Gianni Schicchi () is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's ''Divine Comedy''. The work is the third and final part of Puccin ...

'' by

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, s ...

, an international Oriental Music Festival and a Syrian version of the musical ''

Oliver! ''Oliver!'' is a stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre, southwest London in 1960 before opening in the W ...

'', casting orphans after the model of Venezuela's

El Sistema El Sistema (which translates to The System) is a publicly financed, voluntary sector, music-education program, founded in Venezuela in 1975 by Venezuelan educator, musician, and activist José Antonio Abreu.Lesniak It later adopted the motto " ...

music organization with street children. So far, the opera house has not included in its programmes opera in Arabic or art song in Arabic.

Organ

One 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 Weikersheim is a town in the Main-Tauber district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History Town rights were granted to Weikersheim in 1313. As one of the seats of the House of Hohenlohe, until 1756 Weikersheim's town center was dominated by Wei ...

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.

References

{{commons category 2004 establishments in Syria Buildings and structures in Damascus Music venues completed in 2004 Opera houses in Syria Music of Syria Theatres in Syria Theatres completed in 2004 Ministry of Culture (Syria)

History

The new Damascus Opera House

Damascus Opera Company

Organ

See also

References