A symphony to honour Zayed

While Mohammed Fairouz enjoys international acclaim as one of the most noteworthy composers of his generation, there have been precious few opportunities to enjoy his work in his home country.

This is set to change soon – first with the premiere of the Emirati’s fifth symphony, scheduled for the 2020 Abu Dhabi Festival, a special commission announced in 2015, and which will explore the story of the UAE and its values.

Fairouz spelt out for the first time how he has taken inspiration for the new piece from the life of the country’s Founding Father, Sheikh Zayed.

“If you get down to what he was, Zayed was not only profoundly simple, but he was profoundly humble,” Fairouz tells us.

“He used a lot of his spare time to plant trees – this is something we forget.”

With Fairouz no stranger to taking inspiration from recent history, the new work follows Fairouz’s Symphony No 4, In the Shadow of No Towers, a response to 9/11.

Also, the forthcoming fifth symphony’s final movement will be inspired by the historic signing of the union that formally founded the UAE on December 2, 1971. “The fact the constitution was adopted and the union signed – Zayed was willing from the get-go to compromise, to show an openness – this is something we need in today’s world, wherever we are,” Fairouz says.

“He was illiterate, and he sat down and learnt how to read because he saw value in it – and then he learnt to read music. In an age where so many young people are spending so much time watching cat videos, there are a lot of really important things we can learn from him.”