Opera used to be derided as safe, traditional and boring - an 18th century art form struggling for relevance in the 21st century. But in recent years it has experienced an incredible renaissance emerging as inclusive, interesting and innovative.
Jerry Springer: The Opera wasn't just headline-grabbing satire. It encouraged, through its success, new work such as Jocelyn Pook's Ingerland, which included football chants. Ian McEwan announced recently that Atonement will also be given the operatic treatment, and the Royal Opera House presented The Twitter Opera last year, where tweets from the public were turned into a libretto. And now, the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland has announced it will create an opera wholly from online submissions.
The online trailer for Opera By You is intriguing. Taking the idea of The Twitter Opera to a whole new level, Savonlinna doesn't just want ideas for the story from the public in 140 characters or less. The entire opera is a blank canvas, as it self-deprecatingly announces on the site: "We have 80 vocalists in our choir, but no script. We have a cast and a castle but no wardrobe and no set design. We have a symphony orchestra, but no composition. Come create an opera."
For now, Opera By You is asking for plot suggestions, and in future months, once the story is decided upon, it will branch out into set design, music and so on before the world premiere at the 2012 festival. The most interesting development so far is the opportunity to comment on contributions: as soon as someone posts their thrilling storyline on the site, other users can give a "thumbs up" and make observations or suggestions.
As well they might: a horror opera in which a monster terrorises a small Danish town is actually one of the more straightforward contributions amid the reams of tortuous allegories to the banking crisis.
Still, there's no accounting for taste. The most popular idea so far takes the literal meaning of a space opera (the term for space-based films such as Star Wars and Star Trek) and proposes an opera set in space. Never mind that the author hasn't posted any details of plot other than it would include space ships and exotic planets.
It's easy to poke fun, of course, but the basic idea is hugely laudable. As the Savonlinna Opera Festival general director Jan Hultin points out: "Writing the libretto and music for an opera has traditionally been the work of only a few, as has the visual designing. We now want a large group of people to take part in this unique creative process from the very beginning."
Hultin's main hope - beyond staging a successful opera in 2012, naturally - is that young people will be tempted into the world of opera. He has a distinct chance of succeeding in that aim. Opera is bending to the technology of the day via tweets or social networking exercises such as Opera By You, and cultural icons are, increasingly, finding their own ways to the form. Rufus Wainwright began his musical career as a darling of the open-minded indie fan. But after starting one of his records with a nod to Ravel's Bolero, perhaps it wasn't so much of a surprise that he would end up premiering the new opera Prima Donna at the Manchester International Festival last year. But Wainwright wasn't singing in it, as you might expect; he actually composed the two-act, two hour opera. In the final analysis, Wainwright had overstretched himself, but attracting thirtysomethings to the opera proved a different point.
English National Opera's new season, announced last month, also pointed towards a reconfiguring of our relationship with opera by once again inviting talent from outside the form to stamp their own mark on the classics. The prospect of Berlioz's Damnation of Faust directed by one of the most inventive filmmakers of modern times, Terry Gilliam, is mouthwatering stuff. Before that, Mike Figgis, the director of Leaving Las Vegas, will take the reins for Lucrezia Borgia.
Would many of those rushing to buy tickets for these shows have done so if the directors had been from the opera world? Possibly not, and while there is a faint whiff of gimmickry, at least it is challenging the perception that opera is merely for toffs in suits.
Of course, Opera By You is clever in another respect: it's likely to attract to Savonlinna anyone who participated in the project, however small their input. But happily, that doesn't appear to be Hutlin's intention. The idea, clearly, is to make opera as relevant and as urgent as it was for centuries previously.
I just hope they like my idea of an opera set in a newspaper office...
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How it works
Each player begins with one of the great empires of history, from Julius Caesar's Rome to Ramses of Egypt, spread over Europe and the Middle East.
Round by round, the player expands their empire. The more land they have, the more money they can take from their coffers for each go.
As unruled land and soldiers are acquired, players must feed them. When a player comes up against land held by another army, they can choose to battle for supremacy.
A dice-based battle system is used and players can get the edge on their enemy with by deploying a renowned hero on the battlefield.
Players that lose battles and land will find their coffers dwindle and troops go hungry. The end goal? Global domination of course.
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
MATCH INFO
Burnley 0
Man City 3
Raheem Sterling 35', 49'
Ferran Torres 65'
Company%C2%A0profile
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Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
How to help
Call the hotline on 0502955999 or send "thenational" to the following numbers:
2289 - Dh10
2252 - Dh50
6025 - Dh20
6027 - Dh100
6026 - Dh200
SERIES INFO
Cricket World Cup League Two
Nepal, Oman, United States tri-series
Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu
Fixtures
Wednesday February 5, Oman v Nepal
Thursday, February 6, Oman v United States
Saturday, February 8, United States v Nepal
Sunday, February 9, Oman v Nepal
Tuesday, February 11, Oman v United States
Wednesday, February 12, United States v Nepal
Table
The top three sides advance to the 2022 World Cup Qualifier.
The bottom four sides are relegated to the 2022 World Cup playoff
1 United States 8 6 2 0 0 12 0.412
2 Scotland 8 4 3 0 1 9 0.139
3 Namibia 7 4 3 0 0 8 0.008
4 Oman 6 4 2 0 0 8 -0.139
5 UAE 7 3 3 0 1 7 -0.004
6 Nepal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 PNG 8 0 8 0 0 0 -0.458
U19 World Cup in South Africa
Group A: India, Japan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka
Group B: Australia, England, Nigeria, West Indies
Group C: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Scotland, Zimbabwe
Group D: Afghanistan, Canada, South Africa, UAE
UAE fixtures
Saturday, January 18, v Canada
Wednesday, January 22, v Afghanistan
Saturday, January 25, v South Africa
UAE squad
Aryan Lakra (captain), Vriitya Aravind, Deshan Chethyia, Mohammed Farazuddin, Jonathan Figy, Osama Hassan, Karthik Meiyappan, Rishabh Mukherjee, Ali Naseer, Wasi Shah, Alishan Sharafu, Sanchit Sharma, Kai Smith, Akasha Tahir, Ansh Tandon
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Dhadak
Director: Shashank Khaitan
Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana
Stars: 3
The bio
Favourite food: Japanese
Favourite car: Lamborghini
Favourite hobby: Football
Favourite quote: If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough
Favourite country: UAE
Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
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What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
The%20Crown%20season%205
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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