In 2025, Amine Hachem reconnected with composer Maroun Rahi, artistic director of Opera Lebanon, who invited Amine to co-produce and perform the title role of his opera “Antar w Abla,” based on the legend and writings of the pre-Islamic warrior poet Antar. While the opera enjoyed a successful tour of the Middle East ten years prior, Rahi hired young composer and dynamo Paris Conservatoire student Nadim Tarabay to revise and re-orchestrate the score for this new production. Amine worked closely with Nadim to restructure and rewrite the work, and brought Brian Holman on board to lead rehearsals in Beirut and conduct performances in Abu Dhabi. The production took place in a tennis stadium on a specially constructed 3 platform stage, featuring HD projections designed by Elie Zeidan and performances by the Shaolin Monks. The revised score was performed by Lanzhou Symphony Orchestra.
Following the success of Antar w Abla, producers in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon and Jordan were in the process of planning additional performances over the next two years, when the Iran War broke out, and halted all plans for the near future. It is Opera Lebanon’s commitment to the burgeoning genre of Arabic Opera that it will present Antar w Abla and other operas when regional conditions allow.
