The soprano composer Heba Kawas participated in the Cultural Summit for 2024, organized by the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi, under the presidency of His Excellency Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak. The summit was held at the Saadiyat Cultural District in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, over three days under the theme "A Matter of Time," in collaboration with global partners such as UNESCO, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, Economist Impact, Google, and the Design Museum in London.
This year's Cultural Summit featured prominent cultural leaders from the arts, heritage, media, museums, public policy, and technology sectors, creating an exceptional forum for dialogue, knowledge exchange, and policy development to explore the best ways culture can transform societies worldwide. Kawas represented Lebanon at the summit with a musical operatic performance alongside prominent personalities from around the world, including heads of state, directors of major museums, and official cultural representatives from the UAE, Arab, and international communities.
In the presence of the Arab thinker and poet Adonis, Kawas sang a poem from his works entitled "The Beginning of Travel," which she first performed as a world premiere in Abu Dhabi in 1992. Kawas greeted poet Adonis with "Our Great One," praising his contributions to the summit and the efforts of those organizing it, alongside its noble goals of entrenching culture in its civilizational dimensions, with aspirations aligning under the umbrella of future readiness and investment in knowledge and culture. She stated, "Our meeting today carries a lot of warmth and love stemming from the heart, like the heart of Abu Dhabi that embraces everyone and believes in the role of culture through its unlimited support for modernity, refined arts, and culture."
Kawas' high-level performance was accompanied by piano music, with the elite audience listening intently, applauding, and standing between pieces in appreciation of her delicate and masterful performance, as well as her enchanting voice in Arabic operatic singing that blended with a symphonic global composition that was arranged for a large orchestra and presented on piano. Through her unique arrangement, she was able to create an infinitely dimensional world with the uniqueness of her voice and the pioneering message of her music in Arabic opera. This leading musical approach and the distinctive nature of her music touched the audience, who reacted with apparent emotion to her songs, which she composed music for, featuring works by poets such as Al-Hallaj (O Breeze of the Wind), Adonis (The Beginning of Travel), Huda Al-Naamani (Do You Love Me), Zahy Wahbi (My Voice is the Sky), Nada Al-Haj (Miracle), and Majida Dagher (Take My Heart), which she presented for the first time in a special premiere at the summit.
