Muscat – Royal Opera House Muscat (ROHM) announced its 2026–2027 15th Anniversary Season on Monday, featuring 28 unique shows across 43 performance nights from October 2026 to May 2027. The programme spans opera, Arab music, concerts, ballet, jazz, world music and family shows, alongside exhibitions and an extensive Education and Community Outreach programme.

Since opening in 2011, ROHM has evolved from a landmark cultural venue into an internationally respected producing house, presenting acclaimed artists and companies while commissioning original work, championing Omani heritage and creating opportunities for local talent.

Opera

The operatic season opens with Verdi’s Rigoletto, presented in ROHM’s acclaimed co-production with the Lithuanian Opera and Ballet Theatre and marking the final operatic vision of director Franco Zeffirelli.

A centrepiece of the anniversary programme is ROHM’s original opera Sindbad: The Omani Sailor, produced with Müpa Budapest. Inspired by Oman’s maritime heritage, the production brings together Arab artists and the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

The Opera! returns with works by Verdi, Mozart, Bellini, Mendelssohn and Puccini, while young audiences can experience The Magic Flute: Defeating the Monsters, featuring the Muscat Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra dell’Accademia della Scala and ROHM Children’s Choir.

Arab Music

Arab music remains central to the season. Highlights include the Omani Women’s Day Concert with Egyptian singer Marwa Nagy, a Kulthumiyat evening with Nagy and Yosra Mahnouch, concerts by Gulf stars Nawal and Nabeel Shuail, Ramadan Evenings of Sufi and Inshaad, and A Tribute to the Nightingale featuring Medhat Saleh and Mohammed Assaf. Aseel Abu Bakr closes the Arab music programme.

Concerts, ballet and world music 

Mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča makes her Oman debut, while accordionist Ksenija Sidorova performs with the European Philharmonia Orchestra. A Grand Opera Gala features the Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus Symphony Orchestra.

Other highlights include Cameron Carpenter in the annual Pipe Organ Concert, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets™ in Concert, and Homage to the Qanun, bringing together Omani qanun virtuoso Wahab Al Dhanki, the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra and the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra.

Teatro alla Scala Ballet performs Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote, while The Golden Age of Jazz, Sicilian-Arab music, Portuguese Fado, Military Music: Oman and the World, the Folk Music Festival, The Nutcracker on Ice and The Butterfly Lovers broaden the season’s international scope.

Beyond the stage 

Education and community engagement remain central to ROHM’s anniversary year. Programmes include Utopia: Possible Horizons, Opera Baby, Opera Education, BEATS, Open Doors, Joint Orchestra, Emerging Talents and the Royal Opera House Muscat Summer Camp.

The anniversary exhibition, 15 Years of Stage and Splendour, traces ROHM’s artistic journey through costumes, production artefacts and archival material, while Oman and the World: A Musical Journey explores music as a universal language.