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Flash Entertainment, one of Abu Dhabi's leading event management companies, is set to host tenor soloist Andrea Bocelli in his first concert in Abu Dhabi on March 27.

As a highlight of the sixth Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Andrea Bocelli will perform in the gardens of The Emirates Palace to an expected audience of over 5,000 fans. This one-off concert is the fourth stop on Bocelli's current Incanto album tour and will be his only date in the Middle East.

He will be accompanied by the world famous Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra and joined on stage by Conductor M Marcello Rota, soprano Paola Sanguinetti and baritone Gianfranco Montresor.

Tickets are priced at Diamond Dhs 1,500, Pearl Dhs 1,000, Coral Dhs 600 and Grand Stand Seats Dhs 350 and are available from www.timeouttickets.com, www.boxofficeme.com. For more details log on to www.thinkflash.ae.

The festival runs from March 21 to April 2.

The programmes include a special Opera Gala with a performance by Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu and internationally acclaimed German tenor Jonas Kaufmann, accompanied by the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra under the leadership of Austrian conductor Ion Marin.

The Bolshoi Ballet will deliver a Ballet Gala and two performances of the Yuri Grigorovic interpretation of Giselle.

Oud virtuoso, Naseer Shamma, will accompany World Music Award Winner, Tunisian actress and singer, Latifa, in a world premiere performance featuring new songs with Andalusian themes and inspired by Arab poets.

French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet will perform a concert alongside solo flautist, Sir James Galway, and Russian cellist Nina Kotova. The festival will also feature a show stopping performance by the legendary Lebanese UN Goodwill Ambassador and soprano Magida El Roumi.

Closing this year's festival is Karim Said, a young pianist.

Tickets are available from the Time Out Tickets website www.timeouttickets.com. All box office proceeds received will be donated to the Red Crescent to support humanitarian work in Gaza.

Deep Purple has been announced as the headline artist at the Dubai Bike Week & Expo 2009. The concert will take place on Friday March 20 at 9pm with doors opening at 7pm.

Surviving an endless series of lineup changes and a dramatic mid-career shift from grandiose progressive rock to ear-shattering heavy metal Deep Purple has emerged as a true institution of the British hard rock community. They were once credited in the Guinness Book of World Records as the globe's loudest band, their revolving-door roster launched the careers of performers including Ritchie Blackmore, David Coverdale and Ian Gillan. Deep Purple was formed in Hertford, England, in 1968, with an inaugural lineup that featured guitarist Blackmore, vocalist Rod Evans, bassist Nick Simper, keyboardist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice. Initially dubbed Roundabout, the group was first assembled as a session band for ex-Searchers drummer Chris Curtis but quickly went their own way, touring Scandinavia before beginning work on their debut LP, Shades of Deep Purple. The most pop-oriented release of their career, the album generated a top five American hit with its version of Joe South's Hush but otherwise went unnoticed at home. The Book of Taliesyn followed (in the US only) in 1969, again cracking the US Top 40 with a cover of Neil Diamond's Kentucky Woman. Having sold over 100 million albums worldwide, Deep Purple were also ranked number 22 on VH1's Greatest Artists of Hard Rock programme.

The three-day bike festival which runs from March 19 to 21 will also feature various other entertainment and bike-related programmes. The Expo will showcase the latest in bikes, ATVs, apparel, accessories, custom-designed bikes and motorcycle-related products from all major international brands from Europe, the USA, Canada, Italy and Japan.

For details contact log on to www.gulfbikeexpo.com, www.dubaibikeweek.com, www.boxofficeme.com, www.timeouttickets.com and www.ticketingboxoffice.com.

On March 13 at the Golden Tulip Playhouse the Manama Singers and Bahrain Sinfonia will once again join forces for a magical evening of music, wit and theatre.

Audiences will be taken back in time to witness the hilarious courtroom antics of Gilbert and Sullivan's Trial By Jury, a comically entertaining one act operetta. Set in the Victorian era, Edwin, (Herbert Suarez) promises Angelina (Alicia Pashby) he will marry her and then promptly changes his mind. The jilted bride sues Edwin for breach of promise and so ensues an operetta full of music, song and fully staged theatrics. Trial By Jury's first performance in 1874 was an instant success for Gilbert and Sullivan and launched them as one of the most popular duos of all time.

The Bahrain Sinfonia will perform classic orchestral magic, including works by Gershwin, Stauss and Manuel de Falla and resident conductor is Alistair Auld. There will be two performances at 4pm and 8pm. Tickets are at BD9 and will be available at Al Osra, the Bookcase and the Dilmun Club. For details log on to www.manamasingers.com.

Canon Middle East has launched a region-wide photographic competition called Celebrating Cultures - How Do You See Your World? which will run until March 20 encouraging photographers to submit a cultural, historical or heritage-inspired photograph of their country for a chance to win a state-of-the-art DSLR Canon camera - the EOS 1000 D.

Out of a total of 13 winners, three lucky photographers will also win an all-expense paid trip to attend a Gulf Photo Plus workshop in Dubai between April 1 and May 1.

Candidates from 13 countries across the GCC, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia can participate in the competition which will be judged by an independent on-line panel of experts including well known photo editors, photographers and a representative from Canon Middle East.

To enter the competition or to view images submitted visit https://www.gulfphotoplus.com/canoncompetition. All photographs should be submitted by March 20.