Feb 7th 2009 was the date when the Centrepoint theatre in DUCTAC came alive with the sounds of scintillating baroque music.

Sitting perched  up in a mezzanine seat, I was for two glorious hours in the company of the exhalted and the sublime as symphonies by Johann Bach, Antonio Vivaldi and Georg Telemann infused the air.

Vivaldi, Telemann and Bach were composers and virtuosos of the  Baroque period. Baroque celebrates the ecclesiastical in a way that translates the divine to the masses, yet even heathens with an avowed secular bent (such as yours truly) can not help but acknowledge the genius and pristine beauty of the music composed by Vivaldi et al.

The trio of violins accompanied the baritone of the cello to meet the flirtations of the viola, while the clarinet and the flute sang hyms all their own.

The accoustics of the theatre were surprisingly good – the music carried upliftingly without any evident electric amplification. The audience too was on its best behaviour: the performance was probably the  first event in Dubai not punctuated at regular intervals by the incessant plaintive tinkles of mobile devices.

From the dignity of largo to the free-spirited haste of allegro, the orchestra played magnificent compositions masterfully. It was heart-wrenching, it was gladdening, it was almost cathartic and purifying. And I thank them for it. I must also thank @amazingsusan of Twitter fame, aka Susan Macaulay, for allowing me accompany her to what turned out to be a magical evening.

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