“I hope next time we’ll have an opera in Arabic and I think it should feature the oud, which is one of my favourite instruments”
But…but, Ms. Fleming–there are already operas in Arabic and Turkish. Not long after the importation of Western Styled Orchestras into the Ottoman Empire in 1828 (led by Giuseppe Donizetti, the brother of the more famous Gaetano Donizetti), Ottoman composers were writing Operas which incorporated all the stylistic elements of Ottoman Classical Music (including improvisatory taksims). And not long after the Cairo Congress in 1932, Arabic composers such as Mohammed Abdul Wahhab, were composing Operatic works which melded some elements of Western Classical Music with the indigenous maqams and instrumentation. All of these works would have included a standard instrumentation of Middle Eastern ensembles of which the Oud is essential.
Sadly, such is the nature of Western Music History education that we don’t learn of such things. And such is the nature of Western Music ensembles that we don’t play such things.
Fortunately, I’m not stuck in that mold and have, as standard repertoire in two of my groups, selections from some of these numbers. One of my favorites is “Cleopatra,” which is a beautiful tune from Mohammed Abdul Wahhab’s Operetta “Kilopetra” (1947).
Here’s a wonderful non-staged rendition of it by the Nezareth Orchestra:
Maybe one of these days Western Classical Music ensembles will truly become international and stop focusing on the Western Canonical works as well as Western Canonical compositional style and instrumentation.
I do wonder, given some of the “exotic” themes, stories and locales of many Western Operas, whether Ms. Fleming gained that interest that way or through the work she did with one of my friends who choreographed for the Met Opera production of “Thaïs” back in ’08. *shrugs*
Mae Mai 
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