The Klimt exhibition opens in Muscat

Sayyid Ali and Bernhard Böhler

 

The “Golden Age of Austrian Art” was opened today by H.E. Sayyid Ali bin Hamoud Al BuSaidi, Minister of the Diwan. Included in the display is the Gustav Klimt study sketch for the painting of “Adele Bloch-Bauer” ( the painting that was sold to the Lauder Museum) and includes other works by Kokoschka, Schiele and Fronius . 

Bernhard Böhler the Director of the Dommuseum Museum, which provided the sketches for the exhibition, gave Sayyid Ali an overview of highlights. This is the first in a series of art exhibitions featuring international artists – the planned list is of similar calibre. Austria and Oman have a co-operative relationship in culture going back well over a decade – and this is a wonderful example.

Setting the tone for the evening the opening was followed by the “Trish Trash” Polka and later other Austrian music – performed by members from the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra .

Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra

 

Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra

Simon Wright was the guest conductor for last night’s Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra performance at Al Bustan. He has been a guest conductor for many renowned orchestras – so Oman was fortunate in having a man who is used to quickly getting a good performance from new teams. The orchestra, established in 1985, seemed to have a greater mix of non-Omanis than I had noticed previously and a female Omani principal violin, again new to me .

The program consisted of the overture from Verdi’s Nabucco followed by Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances (1) a Baroque cum Medieval suite. The second half was Sibelius’s first symphony a nice contrast to the first half – though I enjoyed the first half more.