DUBAI, Mar 1 (NNN-WAM) – Expo 2020 Dubai announced a world class music recording studio, that will become a permanent facility as part of its legacy plans in the future city of District 2020 – and the first project to make use of the studio will be Expo 2020’s all-female orchestra.
The Firdaus Women’s Orchestra (Firdaus is ‘Paradise’ in Arabic) will be led by renowned Bollywood and Hollywood composer and songwriter, AR Rahman, who will mentor the musicians and compose music for the orchestra’s inaugural performance, as well as, putting his name to the new studio.
The Firdaus Studio by AR Rahman and the orchestra are both part of ambitious plans to push Dubai and the UAE as an international hub for music recording and score production, further expanding the city’s important role as a cultural centre where people of all nationalities come together to work and live in harmony.
The orchestra will bring together 50 talented female musicians from across the UAE and wider MENA region, to create a unique musical project that will benefit from the state-of-the-art facility, which will serve as the orchestra’s rehearsal base.
The Firdaus Women’s Orchestra will perform music of a top-class international standard on the global stage of Expo 2020, including two AR Rahman concerts, a special show for International Women’s Day on Mar 8, 2021, plus a number of other events and performances.
The studio and orchestra will both benefit from Rahman’s decades of experience at the pinnacle of the music business in Bollywood, Hollywood and beyond, during which he won numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards and two Grammy Awards.
AR Rahman said, “This world-leading studio will attract the cream of the industry to Dubai. Working with the most exciting female musical talents of the region, the Firdaus Women’s Orchestra will enable Dubai to become a focal point for making ground-breaking new music, and I look forward to being part of that.”
A total of 100 women will be chosen for face-to-face auditions in Dubai, with 50 selected for a role in the orchestra. Rehearsals will begin in summer 2020, and those selected will be based in Dubai for the duration of Expo 2020.
Expo 2020 Dubai, which runs from Oct 20, 2020, to Apr 10, 2021, will be the first World Expo and largest event ever to be held in the region.
