‘Beautiful surprise’ awaits at Expo 2020 Dubai opening ceremony

It has been eight years since Dubai was confirmed as the latest host of the World Expo, which included an additional 12-months wait as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic. But those in charge of tonight’s spectacle are promising something spectacular.

Tareq Ghoseh, chief events and entertainment officer, Expo 2020 Dubai, told a media briefing on Thursday, ahead of the event: “I think today you will be enjoying a beautiful surprise. It’s at the best level globally in terms of production, in terms of entertainment and in terms of context.”

The eagerly-anticipated show, which starts with a pre-show at 7.30pm (UAE time), before the main event at 8pm, is split into three 30-minute segments, starting with the UAE national anthem. The first third is devoted to welcoming the audience to Dubai, the UAE and Al Wasl Plaza, as well as the official party into the venue; the second will see the participating audience announced and the event officially declared open.

And the final segment will be devoted to the core themes of this year’s expo – mobility, sustainability and opportunity, building to what promises to be an emphatic climax.

Kate Randall, vice president of ceremonies and programming, events and entertainment, Expo 2020 Dubai, revealed the cast for this evening’s performance is about 900 people, consisting of professional performers and musicians, as well as a volunteers cast.

She said: “We conducted about 42 auditions in March and April earlier this year and we had a huge number of volunteer cast coming from all over the UAE to be part of the ceremony.

Expo 2020 Dubai, revealed the cast for this evening’s performance is about 900 people.

“There’s about an additional 1,000 team that support that cast, across all of the creative team, technical team, productions and music, costume team, choreography team. There’s a lot that goes into the show.”

There are also 11 headline performers, including world-famous tenor Andrea Bocelli, Grammy nominated, Golden Globe-winning actress, singer and songwriter Andra Day, Platinum selling British singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding, international mega-star pianist Lang Lang and four-time Grammy winner Angelique Kidjo.

The Al Wasl trellis was originally divided into 1,162 individual sections that were then welded together into 600 elements in factories in Italy and Abu Dhabi.

The projections system consists of 252 projectors, in 42 climate-controlled bespoke pods, with a total projection output of over 10 million lumens. While the audio system features 27 immersive audio arrays with a distributed sub-bass system, 789 loud speakers, and 128 audio playback channels.

The Al Wasl trellis was originally divided into 1,162 individual sections that were then welded together into 600 elements in factories in Italy and Abu Dhabi.

Ghoseh said: “In addition to that, the stage that you will see today, it has each and every trick and toy that any creative director would like to have. It has a stage lift, it has flaps, it has sound, special effect, it has a revolve. This enabled us to integrate many tricks in everything that we’re doing whenever we need to.”

Explaining the story behind the Al Wasl dome, Amna Abulhoul, executive creative director, events and entertainment, Expo 2020 Dubai, explained that the opening ceremony will be “the cover page of our 182-page book (referring to the 182 days of Expo).”

She said: “When we thought of the story, we thought of how can it reflect the Emirati soul and spirit into a young girl, that takes the world on a journey into mobility, sustainability and opportunity and when we come together as a humanity, we unlock potentials that people might think are challenges.

“It’s really a story-telling journey and Al Wasl Plaza is always an urban theatre. When you see anything happening in that space, you follow the story you want to be in. This is where we created the story that speaks to the world in a global way, with an Emirati touch to it.”