Expo 2020 Dubai: Closing ceremony to feature Christina Aguilera and Norah Jones

The six-month Expo 2020 Dubai event will draw to a close on Thursday. March 31. The organisers have confirmed that that a closing ceremony held at Al Wasl Plaza will feature global superstars including Christina Aguilera, Norah Jones and Yo-Yo Ma.

There will be over 20 giant screens set up across the Expo 2020 Dubai site, including the main stages, Festival Garden and various Country pavilions, allowing all those present at the site to watch the closing ceremony. The ceremony will also be streamed live on Virtual Expo and Expo TV.

Post the closing ceremony, there will be full headline concerts from each artist across Jubilee Stage and Dubai Millennium Amphitheatre.

The closing ceremony celebrations will begin at 7pm headlined by the young Emirati girl from the opening ceremony. The performance will showcase how she has grown, learned and connected with people from around the world – and the final steps before she awakens to her full potential.

The cast of the closing ceremony includes more than 400 professionals and volunteers from 56 different countries, with 745 costumes created for the culmination of Expo 2020 Dubai, according to WAM.

Forty members of a UAE-based children’s choir will perform Ishy Bilady, the UAE’s National Anthem, joined by the all-women Firdaus Orchestra, conducted by Yasmina Sabbah.

Also taking the stage will be the Expo 2020 World String Ensemble, a group of 16 international musicians led by maestro Harout Fazlian, and Italian pianist Eleonora Constantini, familiar to many Expo 2020 Dubai visitors as the performer behind the amazing Flying Piano show at Mission Possible – The Opportunity Pavilion.

The closing ceremony will highlight Al Wasl Plaza’s iconic moments, including calligraphy poetry in the sky from Emirati poetess Ousha bint Khalifa Al Suwaidi; the falcon from immersive theatrical show Journey of the 50th, which was presented during the UAE’s Golden Jubilee celebrations; and the horse from The Boy and The Horse, a tribute to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Later in the evening, Grammy-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma will play a concert at Dubai Millennium Amphitheatre from 8.45pm.

Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and pianist Norah Jones meanwhile will have her own concert on the Jubilee Stage from 9pm.

Popstar Christina Aguilera will present an extended performance on the Jubilee Stage too from 10.45pm.

As part of the closing ceremony, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence and Commissioner-General of Expo 2020 Dubai, will hand the BIE Flag to Ambassador Jai-chul Choi, president of the General Assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), who will then present it to representatives of Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai.

The celebrations will continue throughout the night, with more jaw-dropping fireworks displays at midnight and 3am.

Expo 2020 Dubai, which opened to the public on October 1, 2021, has recorded 20 million visits as of Saturday, March 19. The biggest event to be held in the Arab world has combined cultural, educational and entertainment experiences, with 192 countries coming together to showcase their offerings.

Read: Expo 2020 Dubai clocks in 20 million visits as of March 19