{"id":31405,"date":"2019-02-01T14:23:32","date_gmt":"2019-02-01T14:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=31405"},"modified":"2019-02-01T14:23:32","modified_gmt":"2019-02-01T14:23:32","slug":"top-uae-mogul-to-lead-musicians-at-papal-mass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=31405","title":{"rendered":"Top UAE mogul to lead musicians at papal mass"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nDUBAI: Better known for his role as the CEO of Dubai Airports, Paul Griffiths, will be playing the organ at the mass lead by Pope Francis on Tuesday, Feb. 5, before a congregation of 135,000 people at Abu Dhabi\u2019s Zayed Sports City Stadium.
It will be the first time a Catholic Pope has visited the UAE and the wider Gulf and a first for the 61-year-old British expat.
\u201cIt\u2019s my first time performing in a Catholic mass with such large resources, and such a huge choir,\u201d Griffiths, who is an Anglican, told Arab News.
\u201cIt will be a most historic occasion for the UAE. It\u2019s just the most fantastic opportunity to demonstrate peace and tolerance, and I think, in the world, we need a lot of that,\u201d he said.
Asked if he would be able to meet the pope, he replied: \u201cI\u2019m not sure that that is actually possible, but if it did actually happen, it would be an astonishing opportunity.\u201d
\u201cBut just the honor of playing the organ at a mass, which he is celebrating, that\u2019s quite an astonishing situation.\u201d
Griffiths joined Dubai Airports as CEO in October 2007 \u2013 a year later he led the launch of Terminal 3 \u2013 the world\u2019s largest \u2013 at Dubai International Airport.
On June 27, 2010 he was at the forefront of the opening of the emirate\u2019s second international airport \u2013 Dubai World Central.
But Griffiths is not just a veteran of the airport business, he started learning to play the organ when he was a child.
\u201cI was 10 when my friend asked to me to join the church choir. At the time, I wasn\u2019t really interested in music, but he persuaded me,\u201d he said.
The moment he saw the church organ, he said he had a \u201creal moment\u201d of self-discovery.
\u201cFor about the next 10 years after I started, all I wanted to do was be a cathedral organist,\u201d he added.
But Griffiths said his father was less enthusiastic about him pursuing music as a profession.
\u201cHe persuaded me that music was a good hobby, but a very bad profession,\u201d he said, adding that instead he chose a career path that led him to the top of the aviation industry.
\u201cAlthough I didn\u2019t agree with my father at the time, in hindsight, it was the right decision.\u201d
But he did not give up on music, and now Griffiths manages a schedule of concert and recital engagements, including performances that have placed him alongside major orchestras.
\u201cI am a great believer that life is about living to the full. I try very hard to give all my time and effort to running all the airports, and in my spare time, the little that I have, I do a lot of organ practice and preparations,\u201d he said.
Griffiths is so committed to his music that he said he uses much of his annual leave for his favorite pass-time.
\u201cI\u2019ve got lots of things coming up. I\u2019m playing in the UK in May, and I\u2019m doing two concerts in the US in June,\u201d he revealed.
When things go crazy at the airports, Griffiths said he turns to music to relax.
\u201cI can have a really tough and long day getting everything together, but when I come home, I sit at the organ and practice quite tough music, and within a couple of pages, all the troubles of the day are gone,\u201d he said.
Griffiths is even married to a musician, Joana Marsh, who works full time as a classical composer, working with orchestras and choirs around the world. The passion for music runs in the family, as his son is also a musician, playing the French horn.
The pope\u2019s visit to Abu Dhabi coincides with the Human Fraternity Conference \u2013 an interfaith event that will bring together religious leaders under one roof \u2013 it is also the UAE\u2019s Year of tolerance.
Although Christian, Griffiths is not a Catholic \u2013 he is a member of the Anglican church \u2013 that blending of faiths on the same stage, he said, was \u201can important statement for mankind.\u201d
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what faith or religion we are, the fact that we can come together to celebrate such a historic thing and all be together in the same place\u2026 it will remind us that despite our differences, we are all flesh and blood,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DUBAI: Better known for his role as the CEO of Dubai Airports, Paul Griffiths, will be playing the organ at the mass lead by Pope Francis on Tuesday, Feb. 5, before a congregation of 135,000 people at Abu Dhabi\u2019s Zayed Sports City Stadium.It will be the first time a Catholic Pope has visited the UAE…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":31406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}