Tenor Marc Heller will be breaking new ground when he performs the ‘From Here To There’ concert in Dubai later this month.

The American is part of a group set to perform a selection of songs which will  highlight the connections between Arabic, pre-classical and Western classical music.

Marc will perform alongside conductor Gianluca Marciano and Dubai-based Italian soprano Monica de Rosa McKay.

The opera singer hopes it will be the first of a series of concerts. And the first of many attempts at singing in Arabic.

He explains: “I am debuting this gorgeous piece in Arabic written entitled The Love Bird, it will be my 13th language in which I sing. And having never sung in Arabic before, I am thrilled at the opportunity. 

I have had a lot of help from friends here.

“It was written for my voice and for this performance by a poet in Arabic and the tune was composed by master oud player Khalid Mohammed Ali.”

Marc is a veteran of numerous operas around the world, including his native New York, Slovenia and Norway, and has sung alongside world famous Spanish tenor Placido Domingo in the past.

Understandably, his ambitions are big.

He says: “The concert is a snapshot of what my business partner Gianluca Marciano and I hope to accomplish, which is to elucidate the connections between Arabic classical, and pre-classical musical and even poetic traditions with those of Western classical.

“We want to outline the bridge between cultures that exists, ‘From Here To There’.

The songs and the instrumental pieces were chosen according to what was felt to be consistent with the theme. If we had an entire week to sing and play things, we would not by any means make a complete account of the Spanish and Italian music which derives influence from either Arabic musical or poetic tradition.”

Marc and Gianluca are fascinated by their current studies in UAE music.

Marc explains: “It is an interesting subject because it is basically Khaleeji, and thus very new. I have had a chance to hear some of it, both live and on recording, and I am always highly engaged.

“But I think they’re in the same boat we are in a way, in that they are deriving their stylings from the same source as Western classical has done; it’s just that they are a contemporarily produced art form now.

“If we talk about older artistic value than that from the UAE region, then we can begin to discuss bedouin poetry, whose age, history, and traditions far antedate most, maybe all of the Arabic music from which we derive influence in the West.”

From Here To There takes place at DUCTAC on March 31. Call 050 847 8089