Co-presented by the Aga Khan Music Initiative, ‘Qyrq Qyz’ (Forty Girls) will have its world premiere at the Hopkins Centre for the Arts on 1 March. Pronounced Kirk-KIZ, it’s the story of Gulayim and 40 other girls who, to defend their land against invaders, master the art of war and liberate male fighters from captivity, building, in the end, a new society based on peace and compassion. About the show, Theodore Levin, the Arthur R. Virgin Professor of Music, believes it is a universal story which speaks of the empowerment of women.