Layla and Majnun will be the major dance event at the Melbourne Festival. This timeless story of impossible love predating Romeo and Juliet emerges from the cultural intersections along the Silk Road. Star-crossed lovers Layla and Majnun are central characters in Persian and Arabian folklore and the subject of the first Muslim opera written more than a century ago. In this inspired adaptation by choreographer Mark Morris, celebrated Azerbaijani mugham singers Alim Qasimov and Fargana Qasimova perform with the Silk Road Ensemble onstage with the Mark Morris Dance Group, featuring bold costume and set design by the late abstractionist painter Howard Hodgkin.

This engagement is supported by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through USArtists International in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Howard Gilman Foundation.