What does traditional Bhutanese music and dance have in common with G. F. Handel? Currently very little, but soon Bhutan will experience a historic cultural event in the performance of a Handel opera - the first time that opera has ever been performed in the small Himalayan kingdom.

After a long research period, the project that I proposed to the Royal Government of Bhutan in 2009 is finally set to take off. The first of January will see a group of opera fans stepping out onto the tarmac of the Paro International Airport to join us the production team in a two-week journey of discovering the mysteries of Bhutanese sacred dance and music and assisting us in our workshops with local artists in preparation for the production.

Handel's masque Acis and Galatea is the perfect inaugural music theatre piece for Bhutan where Bhutanese dancers and musicians join us in the performance. The ancient myth that recounts the story of love, death and transformation fits well with Buddhist philosophy and we expect a magical union of Western and Bhutanese performing arts in this new and original production.