The UAE’s Golden Jubilee celebrations are far from over, and the National Day celebrations are far from over. The country continues to be painted in red, green, white, and black against a backdrop of reflection on the last 50 years and a glimpse towards its centenary preparations. Although there has been much to enjoy in every nook and cranny of the city, there is also a multimedia theatrical experience that has arrived at Dubai Opera, the city’s modern art mecca. Ella Spira, a Grammy-nominated composer and painter who divides her time between Dubai and London, is presenting a one-of-a-kind art series called 50 for 50, which contains 50 landscape paintings of the UAE composed by Grammy-nominated musician and painter Ella Spira.
The world premiere of Daughters of the Wind Overture, a Sisters Grimm film, will close up the 50 For 50 season at Dubai Opera. Sisters Grimm is a theatrical production company co-founded by composer and former Royal Ballet ballerina Pietra De Mello-Pittman. “In 2009, Pietra and I co-founded Sisters Grimm with the goal of defying all the rules of theatre-making. We collaborate to create large-scale theatrical pieces that give other cultures a voice. For the past two years, we’ve been in the region working on the Arab World Show,” said the multi-award-winning composer, who was recently granted an MBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for her contributions to international trade and the creative industry as co-founder of Sisters Grimm. She had been touring the country and visiting other sections of the country “that were obviously not well-known to us” while working on the Arab World Show.