The 2026 Dubai “Warm Spring Welcome · Happy Chinese New Year” Spring Festival Concert was held on the evening of February 8 at the Al Wasl Dome Plaza in Expo City Dubai. Oubo Qian, Consul General of China in Dubai, Najib Mohammed Al Ali, Executive Director of the Expo City Dubai Authority, and nearly one thousand guests from the business and arts communities attended the event. The Jilin Provincial Culture and Art Troupe and the Dubai Firdaus Orchestra performed together. Through a musical “dialogue” between the East and the West, they delivered Spring Festival blessings for the Year of the Horse to local audiences, allowing UAE audiences to immerse themselves in the festive atmosphere of the Chinese Spring Festival.
The concert opened with the lively and joyful “Spring Festival Overture.” With the accompaniment of the Firdaus Orchestra, Chinese folk music artists began with solo performances on classic Chinese instruments including the bamboo flute, erhu, guzheng, and pipa, and then jointly performed adapted versions of “Whipping the Horse to Hurry the Grain Transport,” “Horse Racing,” “Fishermen’s Song at Eventide,” and “Medley of Chinese Classic Folk Songs,” showcasing to UAE audiences the unique charm of traditional Chinese instruments and their perfect integration with orchestral instruments. Afterwards, the orchestra skillfully performed Chinese classic pieces such as “Jasmine Flower,” “The Yellow River Boatmen’s Song,” and “Yao Nationality Dance” using Western instruments together with Arabic instruments such as the oud and rababa, demonstrating the orchestra’s in-depth understanding and research of Chinese culture and arts in recent years. Finally, the concert concluded with festival classics “Joyful,” “Good News from Beijing Reaches the Frontier Village,” and the Arabic traditional piece “Longua Riad.” Chinese and Western instruments, as well as Chinese and Arabic instruments, blended perfectly in the classic repertoires of both sides, with rhythms complementing each other. Through a “dialogue” of instruments, the musicians created a classic work of mutual learning and exchange among civilizations, vividly interpreting the concept of “each appreciating its own beauty and sharing beauty together.”
As a key event of the 2026 Dubai “Warm Spring Welcome · Happy Chinese New Year” Grand Parade, the concert was guided by the Chinese Embassy in the UAE, the Consulate General of China in Dubai, and Expo City Dubai, jointly organized by the China Cultural Center in the UAE, the Jilin Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, and the Dubai Firdaus Orchestra, and hosted by the Jilin Provincial Center for International Cultural Exchange.
