For the 12th HIPA, the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award, WithFeeling composed the musical theme for the opening ceremony at Dubai Opera House, scoring an evening dedicated to photography from around the world.
- Client
- HIPA 2023 Diversity
- Agency
- WithFeeling
Sound
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HIPA 2023 DIVERSITY
HIPA brings together images from every corner of the globe, so our brief was a theme that could celebrate that diversity, a single composition able to travel across continents in one performance.
Sound
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CASE STUDY FILM
THE CHALLENGE
The music had to honour the breadth of the showcase while feeling cohesive and ceremonial, carrying the grandeur of Dubai Opera House and the emotion of a global audience as each category of photography was introduced.
THE APPROACH
We reimagined Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake as our foundation, then wove in the defining sounds of each region: operatic tones and cello for Europe, the charango for the Americas, rhythmic drums for Africa, the delicate erhu for Asia, the lagerphone for Australia and the soulful oud for the Middle East. English and Arabic voice actors added poetic narration to introduce each category, elevated by the thematic score.
THE RESULT
The finished theme became an integral part of the event’s narrative rather than mere accompaniment, a journey through emotions and cultures that aligned with the visual showcase and touched a diverse, global audience.
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