The first opera to be written, produced and performed by arabs Aside from the composer, the orchestra, and most of the cast, it appears:
http://www.michielborstlap.com/frames/newsframe/newsfr.html I'm making assumptions here based on names, but I think I'm on reasonably solid ground. I assume the choir of 100 is mostly Arabs. Otherwise though - how is this different from, say,
Aida? I guess for Avicenna, the producer and the original text are Arabs, which wasn't the case for Aida. I suppose "the first opera to be partly written, produced and partly performed by arabs" wouldn't have sounded quite as good.
[ October 18, 2003: Message edited by: Jim Yingst ]