Built on Sand

In October 2018, Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and never came out. A journalist for The Washington Post and Middle East Eye who was fiercely critical of his country’s regime, Khashoggi was ambushed by a 15-man Saudi hit team; he was suffocated to death and his body was dismembered with a bone saw. According to U.S. intelligence officials, these actions were ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto head of state.

An international outcry followed Khashoggi’s murder, and human rights groups urged governments to sever trade links with the Saudi state. But unlike other countries like Germany, Finland, and Denmark, who canceled their arms deals with the country, Britain stalled. Among the many voices strongly condemning this inaction online was the British singer Sarah Connolly. “Pacify the people with stalling nonsense because money matters more than morals,” she tweeted. “That’s where our government puts us.”

Connolly is a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, a recipient of the King’s Medal for Music, the president of British Youth Opera, a former soloist at the Last Night of the Proms, and one of a handful of British opera singers with name recognition among the arts crowds here. She’s also a prolific tweeter. (At over 43,000 tweets since she joined the site in 2010, nobody can accuse her of being backward in coming forward.) 

Particularly enraged by Brexit, Connolly emerged as a forthright champion of causes specific (British musicians’ rights to work in Europe) and general (the rights to assembly and free speech), regularly declaring the need for journalists and the public to hold politicians to account. One memorable exchange involved Connolly calling out member of parliament (and arts patron) Jesse Norman (no relation), citing accountability site They Work For You’s verdict on his voting record. “I wonder if the musicians you support are aware of how you feel about human rights and equality?” Connolly asked.

It’s 8 a.m. on a Friday morning when Connolly appears on a video call (along with her publicist) to talk about her involvement with “Zarqa Al Yamama,” a Saudi-funded production of Australian composer Lee Bradshaw’s first opera. The production is a flagship project for the Saudi government, in which Connolly plays the title character, a blue-eyed, Cassandra-like figure from pre-Islamic folklore. (If you do find yourself in Riyadh before May 5, there are many, many tickets still available.)

We manage 20 minutes of solid conversation, before we’re interrupted by a faulty internet connection at Connolly’s end. She reappears briefly, before being cut off again shortly afterwards. When she returns for a third time, it’s only to say that we’re out of time before she’s whisked away to a rehearsal. Several attempts to finish the interview are unsuccessful. 

During our short conversation, Connolly spoke about online activism, embracing the challenge of singing in Arabic, and why she’s heading up a high-profile cultural project funded by a regime she once described as “murdering autocrats stuck in a time warp.”

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VAN: What first attracted you to the project?

Sarah Connolly: Well, I was invited to join, as one is invited to join any project, and I thought, “Gosh, what a challenge to sing in Arabic.” And you know, the various voices kicked in, like, “Can you do it?” And I thought, well, is it any more difficult than singing in Russian or Czech? (Czech, by the way, is incredibly difficult. And Polish too—so many consonants and alien sounds.) And I thought, well, you know, you’re 60-odd; why wouldn’t you grasp the challenge? I’m less fearful [at] my age than I was 20 years ago.

I had no idea what the music was like, because there wasn’t much of Lee’s music around to listen to. I’ve subsequently found it. There’s quite a lot of recordings, but on YouTube, there’s not a lot. I was assured that Lee was a melodist, that he wrote melodic music and it was very beautiful music, which it is. And so I thought, well, if the music is singable, and it’s melodic, the Arabic language should be doable.

It’s a challenge and I love languages. So I thought, why not?

It strikes me as the sort of gig that not many British opera singers would take on. Did you take much persuasion?

No. Once I’d decided that [Bradshaw] was a melodist, and it wasn’t going to be too atonal and strange (and that I wouldn’t have to concentrate terribly hard on the music and terribly hard on the language—that would have been difficult)… But the music is doable. It’s not easy; believe me, it’s not. But it’s… it’s easy on the ear, shall we say. It’ll be lovely to listen to [though] not always easy to sing…

But no, I didn’t take much persuasion at all.

Did you turn down any work in Europe to sing in Saudi Arabia?

No, no. It was mentioned a year ago, and the timings of it had to fit in around my time with Dutch National Opera just before. And so, attending the week’s music rehearsal in Czech Republic [for “Zarqa”] was, well, impossible, because it was the week before opening night in Holland. So that was a bit of a logistical headache for them, but I chose a brilliant understudy. 

In the past few years, especially since Brexit, you’ve been extremely vocal online regarding politics, whether that’s championing specific causes, or more generally, in support of the right to protest and the right to free speech. Do you feel that activism, in that form, has become an important part of your artistry?

Well, when you’re made a Dame of the British Empire, or, you know, the equivalent of… Robert De Niro said in his award the other day, in his Lifetime Achievement award [The speech was at the SAG Awards in 2020—Ed.] that if you’re well known, you should use that power to advocate for other people. And so in that respect, I do.

I particularly advocate for musicians’ right to work. And I’m also a particular [critic] of various arts bodies that don’t step up to the mark, and, well, for Brexit, ruining chances for British artists to work in Europe. 

I’m so sad that [Brexit] has caused the British conservatoires to have to up their fees to such incredibly high amounts. Europeans don’t particularly want to come and study in the UK anymore, because they can’t do any work once they’re here. For students, the rule is you can’t work, whereas you can in Germany; a Brit can get some work with a permit. So I’m furious about that. 

With Paule Constable, one of the associate directors from the National Theatre, and Deborah Annetts [Chief Executive of the Incorporated Society of Musicians] we used to go into Parliament during COVID, and talk to people there about the realities of our world.

They had no idea what we were going through—about the difficulties we have working 90 days within 180 in Europe. I mean, they knew about them, but they didn’t know what effect it was having. I don’t think they gave a toss really, but at least a few of them turned out to listen to us talk, which I appreciated. 

And then, of course, there’s cuts to all sorts of opera companies in the UK and you just think, what are the opportunities? We’ve got to hang on to the right to use the word excellence, which has become a bit of a dirty word. Inclusivity is incredibly important, equally important. But I don’t think you can drop excellence at the expense of inclusivity. That would be my motto.

Do you think that taking on this gig in Saudi Arabia makes you less able to speak out on these political topics?

Now, when I’m in somebody else’s country, I’m their guest, and I abide by the rules of that country. It’s out of respect.

It’s not your business to talk publicly about how you feel about things. And you’re also not just a guest, but they’re your employers. So within limitations, I think it’s important not to upset anybody, you know.

In 2018, replying to a tweet from Jeremy Hunt after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, and the following reluctance of the UK government to stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia, you described the situation as follows: “There’s little debate around morality, more the public perception of whether taking money from murdering autocrats stuck in a time warp will matter.”

Well, I would say that the current regime has changed vastly, the climate has changed vastly. And I think it’s important to recognize that this [opera] wouldn’t be happening without the changes that are happening now in Saudi Arabia. So I would say, things that happened, you know, in other countries—including our own UK—in the past have been appalling. And you just think, well, those decisions were then. Now, the landscape is incredibly different.

I mean, they’re pumping billions into women’s and girls’ education. They are trying to effect change, and it’s a slow process. And I know [Khashoggi’s murder] was then and I’m sure that mistakes were made around that. And I do stand by the shock wave of that—I will stand by the fact that we all felt very shocked by that.

I would say that, while it was essentially the same group of people that were responsible for [Khashoggi’s murder who] are still in charge, they are striving very, very hard to change all of this. If they weren’t trying to change it, I’m not sure I’d have ended up here. When I heard about the amazing work they’re doing with furthering music and the arts in this country… 

I also think music and arts is a language that is a soft power. And that it almost does more than words, because it allows people to stop and contemplate, rather than be hit with words. 

I think what they’re doing is extraordinary. That an opera of all things—high art—has been chosen over a play or a musical, it means they’re taking it very seriously. I know that this is a flagship project for the government here in Saudi Arabia. Through that, not only are they offering us employment, but they’re offering an opportunity to try and heal past acts, if you like.

I appreciate the answer. I’d reply by saying that in February this year, Saudi Arabia executed seven people in one day, the highest number in a single day since 2022, when they executed 81 men in a single day. I agree they’re pumping money into the arts and into opera; are they trying to change the conversation away from things that are awful, to distract from things that are still going on?

[Connolly’s internet drops out for a few minutes. When she returns, she picks up in a slightly different place to where we left off.]

So basically to your question… I would just like to stress that the regime is changing, in an extremely positive way, and I think that’s why we all feel very comfortable to be here.

You know, America has the death penalty; does that mean I don’t work in America? You know, I don’t see why Saudi Arabia, just because they particularly kill people in that way… is it any worse than lethal injection, or electrocution, or gas? I don’t know, I don’t think so. 

I work in America. I’d be a hypocrite to say I can’t work here if I work in other countries that have the death penalty.

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In March, a draft of Saudi Arabia’s new penal code was leaked to the international press. According to Amnesty International, the new code formally enshrines Saudi Arabia’s current regressive policies in law: It codifies the death penalty, and permits existing modes of corporal punishment, while also criminalizing the rights to expression, thought, religion, “illegitimate” consensual sexual relations, abortion, and homosexuality. “As it stands, the draft code shatters the illusion that the Crown Prince is pursuing a truly reformist agenda,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

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Yes, of course I agree that America has the death penalty. But compared to the particular context that it comes out of in terms of trial, in terms of jury—

Yes, I know that [the Saudi] trial isn’t always open…

But with regards to the opera, someone once said to me, are you going to be accused of doing the same thing as say, David Beckham, sort of like sportswashing? I would say to that—that may preempt a question you may or may not have—we are contributing to the Saudi culture by having spent many, many hours learning to sing in Arabic. We’re not just there to stand and present a sports program and get millions of people to watch. We are taking part in the Saudi culture and for me that’s a—…

[Connolly is lost again.] ¶

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that former member of parliament Jesse Norman was a general manager of The Mozartists. While Norman stated this in a 2019 Tweet, The Mozartists have clarified that he was actually a supporter who offered pro bono strategic advice to the company in the early aughts. VAN regrets the error.