Credits:

Bartok / Bodurov / Alma Quartet

Description:

Iran's first contemporary chamber opera! Amir Mayar Tafressipour's "The Doll behind the Curtain" by Iranian-Danish composer Amir Mayar Tafressipour (1974-) is the first modern chamber opera in Iran. Set in Le Havre and Tehran in 1930s France, it is a work in two acts. Mehrdad, a shy and introverted student from Iran, has just finished his lycée at Le Havre. While waiting for the day to return to Iran, he finds a beautiful mannequin doll in a junk store. After hearing a parting sermon from the worldly-wise principal, he unstoppably visits the store with its mysterious owner named Tombou and his granddaughter Giselle, and buys the mannequin made of snowflake plaster. ...... Based on the short story of the same name by Sadeq Hedayat (1903-1951), one of the leading writers of contemporary Iranian literature, and written to an English script by British playwright Dominic Power (1947-), the play premiered in August 2015 at the Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival at King's Place in London, It was staged at the Royal Danish Opera House in Copenhagen in 2020.The music of Hoso Taflesipur moves freely between European modernism and the music of Eastern traditions, while reliably portraying the choices that all individuals must face in the "clash of civilizations". The cast is the same as in the Royal Danish Opera House production, including tenor Jonatan von Schwanenflugel singing Mehrdad and soprano Sine Snee Doerholm as his fiancée Beater. Norway's Eirik Haukose Oudegaard is also the conductor for the same performance. The performance was session-recorded at the YMCA Festival Hall in Copenhagen. Amir Mayar Tafreshpour (composer) is a Danish composer of Iranian descent. He studied piano and composition at Esbia Music Academy in Denmark, Trinity College of Music and Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and completed a PhD in composition at Brunel University in London in 2016. 2003, his solo piano work "Images of Childhood won first prize in the New Music Composition Competition at the University of Tehran. He has received numerous commissions from major ensembles, soloists, and orchestras around the world. King International

Tracklisting:

1.The Doll Behind the Curtain~Act I: Opening
2.The Doll Behind the Curtain~Act I: Scene 1: What Is It She Wants to Tell Me?
3.The Doll Behind the Curtain~Act I: Scene 2: One of the Pleasures of Le Havre
4.The Doll Behind the Curtain~Act I: Scene 3: Giselle! You've Sat There for an Hour
5.The Doll Behind the Curtain~Act I: Scene 4: No Woman I Have Ever Seen
6.The Doll Behind the Curtain~Act II: Scene 1: Mehrdad, I Call You Beloved
7.The Doll Behind the Curtain~Act II: Scene 2: Now It Is Winter
8.The Doll Behind the Curtain~Act II: Scene 3: Bita, My Dear, Come
9.The Doll Behind the Curtain~Act II: Scene 4: Bita - Bita: Yes
10.The Doll Behind the Curtain~Act II: Scene 5: Ay, This Weather
11.The Doll Behind the Curtain~Act II: Scene 6: Is This My Rival?
12.The Doll Behind the Curtain~Act II: Scene 7: Every City Has Its Secrets
13.The Doll Behind the Curtain~Act II: Scene 8: Another Night in the Vortex