Adonis and Naseer Shamma take centre stage for Abu Dhabi classics and Bait Al Oud concert series

ABU DHABI, 16th December, 2015 (WAM) -- Adonis, one of today’s greatest living poets, along with Oud master Naseer Shamma, are to perform together for the latest instalment for Abu Dhabi Classics international concert season, presented by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, TCA Abu Dhabi. The duo will take to the stage on Thursday, 17th December, at Emirates Palace Auditorium in Abu Dhabi for an evening entitled, ‘Reflections of Poetry and Music’. "We are looking forward to a historic evening with two of the greatest artists from the Arabic world. We have been working on this project for a very long period of time and are very excited that it is finally coming to life in Abu Dhabi," said Sara Al Shakar, TCA Abu Dhabi. "Like no other evening of the Classics Season, this performance, which is taking place in cooperation with Bait Al Oud music academy, will allow us to understand how music and poetry are two sides of one universal artistic expression." Syrian-born Adonis has a worldwide reputation as a poet and is the author of numerous collections, including Mihyar of Damascus, A Time Between Ashes and Roses, If Only the Sea Could Sleep, The Pages of Day and Night and The Blood of Adonis, the winner of the Syria-Lebanon Award of the International Poetry Forum. He is also an essayist, an editor of anthologies, a theoretician of poetics, and the translator of several works from French into Arabic. He has been a Lebanese citizen since 1963 and has lived in Paris since 1986. Naseer Shamma was born in 1963 in Iraq and began studying the Oud at the age of 12, receiving his diploma from the Baghdad Academy of Music in 1987. He has composed music for films, plays and television. His compositions are culturally unique and he plays the instrument in a way which combines ancient methods with his own modern compositions. He has previously constructed an eight-stringed Oud following the manuscript of the 9th century music theorist, Al-Farabi. This new design (eight instead of six strings) expanded the musical range of the Oud and gave it a distinct tonality. Dr. Ronald Perlwitz, Head of Music Programme, TCA Abu Dhabi, said, "Adonis’ poetry combines the themes of fluidity, exile, metamorphosis with a clear tribute to the tradition of Arab writing. He has reached, like no other Arabic writer of his generation, international fame and is today considered as one of today’s greatest living poets. His performance with Oud legend Naseer Shamma represents an artistic happening of prime importance both regionally and internationally. An unforgettable, uncompromising, utterly brilliant and riveting performance awaits the public." While this concert brings to an end Abu Dhabi Classics for 2015, the season continues in the New Year and runs until May with performances across the emirate by Spanish orchestra Sinfonica de Galicia, Kremerata Baltica with Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich, Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, and Maththias Goerne. – Emirates News Agency, WAM - http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates/1395289300629.html