Culture.

When the curtains rose for the opening night of the Royal Opera House Muscat’s fifteenth season, the stage did not merely present an imported Italian classic. Framed by soaring Renaissance arches and rich Venetian velvets, Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto returned in the celebrated staging created by the late director Franco Zeffirelli. Yet what gave this grand spectacle its distinct pulse was the substantial presence of local talent standing shoulder to shoulder with international soloists.

Before paved highways linked the interior to the coast, journeys across the sands and gravel plains of Oman were measured by the steady stride of a laden camel. Resting behind the animal’s hump, balanced symmetrically across its flanks, hung…