by AYESHA DAYA
A detail of the Royal Opera House Muscat. “It’s an absolutely unique opportunity in the world to come to an opera house that is brand new, not just as a building, but as an institution,” Christina Scheppelmann, the incoming chief executive said. PHOTO/Ayesha Daya/Bloomberg
A flurry went around the art world when conservative Oman named a woman as the chief executive of the Persian Gulf’s only opera house in Muscat.
German-born Christina Scheppelmann is moving from Washington D.C. She’s planning classical, jazz and world music concerts at the opera house, which opened last year with performances by Placido Domingo and Andrea Bocelli.
Christina Scheppelmann, artistic director of the Washington National Opera, will become the chief executive of the new Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman. The theater opened in October 2011. PHOTO/WETA
“There are enough good stories, enough wonderful poetry, and enough traditional music, if anyone wants to combine those elements and tell a story,” she says in an interview in Muscat.
“Theater as a concept is a little foreign, but using your own stories and your own music, it is easier to comprehend.”
Oman — the biggest Arab oil exporter that isn’t a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries — opened the Royal Opera House Muscat in October 2011. Its neighbors are rushing to follow suit. Iraq laid the foundation stone in May for a 170 billion dinar ($150 million) cultural complex in Baghdad, while Dubai, one of seven sheikhdoms in the United Arab Emirates, plans a cultural district. Both include opera houses. Abu Dhabi, the U.A.E. capital, and Qatar have also begun hosting operas as part of music and art festivals.
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