The First Ever Performance of Europe's great classical music tradition focusing on Mozart has been conducted in Riyadh Saudi Arabia. The first public performance is causing quite a stir in Saudi Arabia as it was attended by mixed sexes ... i.e. male and female, in a country where male and female are banned from even queuing together for food!
The Mozart Concert Performance is seen as "revolutionary" and "ground breaking" according to writer from Associated Press ..... and its also seen to represent Western Classical Music.
In the midst of this King Abdullah is focusing on "dialogue with Christians and Jews .. a worthy notion and it is interwoved in this business of cross culture exchanges with European traditions and Arab Traditions! Faiza Al Khayyd a retired Saudi educator was present at this Classical Concert held in King Fahd Cultural Centre and she attended this concert with her 15 year old daughter ...she is not worried about mixing the sexes as she was with her daughter in public and obviously its causing a great deal of interest. A young engineer said he might leave halfway throught Mozart as he wouldnt know much about it .... probably true! Fortunately for us in the UK we have Sean Rafferty on BBC Radio 3 and I must admit Mozart is most enjoyable . I am a regular listener to Mozart on the Radio! ... thanks AP for blog from Saudi Arabia ... great work!
More summaries about the A First for the Saudis!