Abu Dhabi classics season begins

The Abu Dhabi Classics season in February will present two consecutive weekends of world-class concerts along with a musical master class targeting the younger audience.

An exclusive five-day masterclass series entitled Maestro of the Maestros, aimed at aspiring musicians will be held daily from February 1 to 4. The classes are free and open to the public from 4pm to 9pm at the Al Khubairat British School.

The four sessions will be presided over by world-famous conducting teacher and Sibelius Academy professor Jorma Panula. The workshop will bring together an orchestra of some 70 musicians aged between 18 and 25 to play with ten visiting conductors from Japan, Italy, Germany, France, Korea, Finland and other countries.

The combined lecture-rehearsal programme is designed to develop the young musicians' knowledge of the classics and inspire them to pursue their personal musical ambitions. The last day of the masterclass will take place at the Emirates Palace on February 5.

The month's dual-concert weekend begins with a selection of masterpieces from the doyens of Scandinavian composition on February 6 at 8pm in the Emirates Palace Auditorium.

The evening's programme, entitled Scandinavian Landscapes, features the internationally acclaimed Sibelius Academy Orchestra from Helsinki, under the baton of Finnish conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste. The wide-open Nordic landscape will be evoked through the romantic music of Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite - composed as incidental music to Ibsen's play of the same name and Humoresques by Jean Sibelius, which will display the talents of Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud.

On February 7 the Emirates Palace Auditorium will feature the sounds of Beethoven, Brahms and Rachmaninoff with an evening of chamber music celebrating The Romantic Cello. Latvian-born cellist Mischa Maisky - the only person to have studied with both 20th-century Russian cello masters, Mstislav Rostropovich and Gregor Piatigorsky - will treat the audience to an evening of poignant cello sonatas, accompanied by the award-winning pianist and teacher Pavel Gililov.

Friday 13 brings The Lord of the Rings Symphony at the Emirates Palace Auditorium in another concert first for the emirate and will feature the renowned German Radio Philharmonic and the chorus Orpheus from Sofia, Bulgaria and emerging talent of the United Abu Dhabi Children's Chorus, the Abu Dhabi Chamber Choir and the Al Khubairat Singers. At the helm will be Markus Huber, who has conducted The Lord of the Rings Symphony around the world.

On February 14 Hungarian Roby Lakatos will perform at the Emirates Palace Terrace.

Tickets are available at www.abudhabiclassics.com, www.timeouttickets.com, at Virgin Megastores.