A Decade of Reinvention: How Dubai Opera Shaped the Gulf's Live Performance Future

Standing in an empty 1,900-seat auditorium just hours before the evening crowds arrive, Lara Ewing surveys a space she has helped shape for a decade. The silence feels temporary, suspended between the concrete reality of backstage and the grandeur audiences experience when the lights come up. For Ewing, Head of Dubai Opera, that quiet moment captures something essential about the venue that has defined Downtown Dubai’s cultural landscape since 2016.

“When I first started at Dubai Opera, the seats weren’t in yet and it was concrete over here,” she recalls, looking out across the hall. “I remember standing way up at the back and just looking and going, ‘Is this really going to be ready in time for the 31st of August 2016?’ But yes, it was. Of course, it was. It started with an absolute bang with Domingo, with Trieste Opera, and here we are a decade later. I am a totally proud mum and this is my playground!”

What has sustained that momentum is not just the venue’s striking architectural design, but something more fundamental: its refusal to be confined to a single genre or audience. Just last week, British comedian Jimmy Carr drew a packed house, a stark contrast to the classical grandeur that usually defines an opera house. The week before that, comedian Nemr sold out two shows. Upcoming performances include Trevor Noah for two exclusive stand-up nights, alongside the Bolshoi, the Ukrainian National Ballet, rock acts, and symphony orchestras.

“We’re super adaptable, so we’re as diverse as the community of Dubai,” Ewing explains. “We’ve got something for everyone. Different cultures, different backgrounds of everyone. What I love is that we can go from comedy like Jimmy Carr to another comedian like Nemr, who sold out two shows with us, which was absolutely incredible. And then we can change over to a symphony orchestra. The flexibility of this venue is really what makes it so special.”

That flexibility relies on remarkable engineering hidden beneath the velvet and timber. Depending on the production, the auditorium’s side boxes can rotate 180 degrees. Giant hydraulic lifts can swallow the entire ground-floor seating area, converting the traditional theatre into a flat-floor venue in hours. Over its first decade, this dynamic space has hosted Viennese debutante balls, professional squash courts, Emirati weddings, and even torrential indoor downpours for Singin’ in the Rain.

Beneath the technical sophistication lies something Ewing finds equally important: the human experience of live performance. She has two favorite spots in the house, neither of them VIP sections. One is way back in the Grand Circle, where the acoustics are beautiful and she can see both the audience and the stage simultaneously. The other is the top floor, where she watches audience members’ faces.

“I love watching people’s faces,” she says. “You can see different ages, genders, backgrounds, cultures, everything, and watching them all kind of gasp at the same moment, or relax, or laugh at the same joke.”

Even amid wider regional uncertainties, ticket sales remain robust. “Despite everything going on, people still want to go out, experience live culture, and connect with each other,” Ewing tells Gulf News. “Our ticket sales are holding up exceptionally well, proving that the hunger for live performance in Dubai is as strong as it’s ever been.”

As the venue prepares to announce its 2026-2027 season, Ewing’s vision for the next decade centers on that same principle of connection and adaptation. The landmark season launches in September with a 10th Anniversary Gala featuring acclaimed soprano Fatma Said and the UAE National Orchestra, followed by the Ukrainian National Ballet’s fresh adaptation of The Marriage of Figaro.

“It’s a ballet version of it, so it’s a lot more accessible,” Ewing explains. “It’s funny, it’s light, the costumes are incredible, and so it’s going to be a really nice opportunity for people to just come and lose themselves in live performance and sit next to other people, enjoy being around each other.”

The coming months bring a rich mix of international and regional talent. God Save The Queen and The Amy Winehouse Band bring high-energy rock. Lebanese singer Marilyne Naaman offers soulful sounds. The Dubai Comedy Festival returns. Gipsy Kings Symphonic, British artist Benjamin Clementine, and Ministry of Sound Classical round out the classical offerings. Pianist Guy Manoukian returns for his landmark tenth performance at the venue, alongside classical virtuoso Denis Matsuev.

“We’re trying to bring some world premieres here, which we have succeeded in doing,” Ewing says. “We’ll have a few different world premieres, and artists who have never been to Dubai before. There are some things in the program that you will absolutely love, and some that you’ll think, ‘I’m not really that interested in,’ and that’s fine. If you loved every single thing on the program, it probably means we’re a bit beige, a bit bland. There’s got to be something that is different and loved for everyone.”

Maintaining such a premier venue through a decade of nonstop performances requires constant care. “We have very high standards, obviously,” Ewing smiles. “We keep the Botox and the fillers going throughout the season, but the team really do and it’s just a constant maintenance. Behind the scenes, people are really, really working and putting in the effort because we love it. Everyone here really believes in the arts, in culture, in live performance, in whatever form that is.”

That warmth extends to the global headliners who step onto the stage. “Honestly, what I’ve found with artists is the better the artist, the less demands that they have,” Ewing reveals. “Typically, if it’s an artist that we’ve got who’s absolutely on top of their game, they’ll be like, ‘Oh, come in! I’ve got some tea here. Would you like a cup of tea? I’ll pour you one.’”

The artists who keep returning year after year tell their own story about the relationships the venue has built. As Dubai Opera enters its second decade, that bond with its audience remains at the heart of Ewing’s thinking. “I see us still listening to the audiences and adapting with them,” she says. “That’s what we’ve been doing for the last decade, and we’ll continue to adapt and do that in a super high quality and really successful and enjoyable way.”

Whether the next ten years bring more world premieres, more sell-out comedy nights, or genres nobody has thought to stage in an opera house yet, the question Ewing seems most interested in is a simple one: whose face in the crowd will light up next?