JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s first opera house is set to open in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, Ahmed Al-Khatib, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA), announced on Thursday.
The announcement was part of the launch of the 2018 entertainment calendar at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh, where Al-Khatib revealed a budget of $64 billion for the entertainment sector over the coming decade. More than 5,000 events in 56 cities in the Kingdom are planned for 2018.
Al-Khatib told Reuters last April of Saudi Arabia’s plan to open “a world-class opera house” as part of the Kingdom’s entertainment reforms.
The Saudi General Culture Authority will handle the establishment of the new opera house, Al-Khatib, who declined to give further information, told Arab News.
The General Culture Authority could not be immediately reached for comment.
According to Reuters, the opera house to be completed around 2022.
Speaking to Arab News, Sultan Al-Bazie, former president of the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts, described the announcement as a significant step toward enriching the Kingdom’s cultural scene and said it deserved “a warm welcome.”
Al-Bazie wondered, however, about the fate of the Royal Arts Complex and whether the opera house would be a substitute for it.
In 1869 the Egyptian Khedivial Opera House in Cairo became the first opera house in Africa and the Middle East. Designed by architects Pietro Avoscani (from Livorno) and Rossi, the opera house was built on the orders of Khedive Ismail to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal.
In 2011, Oman opened the Royal Opera House in Muscat becoming the second Arab and first Gulf country to have an opera house. Other Gulf countries such as Dubai and Kuwait later opened opera houses.
First Saudi opera house to open in Jeddah
First Saudi opera house to open in Jeddah
Saudi defense minister receives Mukalla port director, thanks him for heroic role
- Prince Khalid thanked Basamir for his heroic and humanitarian role in ensuring safety and protecting lives and property at the port
RIYADH: Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman received the director of the Port of Mukalla Salem Basamir on Tuesday.
In a post on social media platform X, Prince Khalid thanked Basamir for his heroic and humanitarian role in ensuring safety and protecting lives and property at the port.
The Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen carried out a limited airstrike in December targeting foreign military support at the Port of Mukalla in the Hadramaut governorate, where calm has been restored after a period of tension.
In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency following the strikes, coalition spokesman Major General Turki Al-Maliki said two ships coming from the port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates entered the Port of Mukalla without obtaining official permits from the Joint Forces Command of the Coalition.
“The crews of the two ships disabled their tracking systems and unloaded a large quantity of weapons and combat vehicles to support the Southern Transitional Council forces in the eastern governorates of Yemen (Hadramaut and Al-Mahra) with the aim of fueling the conflict. This is a clear violation of the truce and the pursuit of a peaceful solution, as well as a violation of UN Security Council Resolution No. 2216,” said the spokesman.
