Seattle Opera Premieres A Thousand Splendid Suns
“A story very much of today…in an art form that has never before offered a work so deeply embedded in the realities and culture of Afghanistan.” Opera Magazine
Acclaimed Filmmaker Roya Sadat Directs
World Premiere of A Thousand Splendid Suns
February 25–March 11, 2023
Seattle Opera
Seattle, Washington – February 1, 2023 – When acclaimed Afghan filmmaker Roya Sadat agreed to direct the operatic premiere of A Thousand Splendid Suns, the challenges encountered by the story's Mariam and Laila, two women brought together under brutal Taliban rule, were a reminder of a traumatic period in Afghanistan's history. Then, on August 15, 2021, during Sadat's first production meeting in Seattle, the Taliban retook her hometown of Kabul. The women of Afghanistan were once more thrown into the chaos and crises depicted in the novel by Khaled Hosseini that formed the basis of Stephen Kitsakos' libretto.
"Roya Sadat is a force," declared the opera's composer Sheila Silver. "She is an award-winning Afghan women’s rights activist directing a Western opera about women’s rights. And Seattle Opera is giving her all the support she needs to make the production a success. We have invited a highly distinguished artist to collaborate in this art form and I think the results will be totally original."
“I want to draw the audience into this world to ensure that this story lives on in people’s hearts and minds,” said Sadat. “Opera has given me the strength to be the voice for millions of women whose right to speak has been taken away. I want this opera to be a cry so loud that you’ll never forget the women of Afghanistan and the Middle East.”
As the women in today’s Afghanistan are once more deprived of basic human rights by the Taliban, their strength and resilience has inspired the women-led creative team assembled by Seattle Opera. That team includes cultural consultant Humaira Ghilzai, who has collaborated with Silver and Kitsakos on Suns since 2016. In addition to working directly with the composer and librettist on the language and storytelling in the piece, Ghilzai has assisted in curating opportunities for audiences to learn about Afghan art and culture.
Seattle Opera has programmed a robust slate of community and education events to promote Afghanistan’s rich cultural and artistic legacy. On February 11, Jashin: A Celebration of Afghan Arts will feature artwork rescued from Kabul by artist-activists ArtLords, a performance by Homayoun Sakhi on the rubab, one of Afghanistan’s national instruments, and a screening of the documentary Symphony of Courage, about the Afghanistan National Institute of Music and Afghanistan’s first all-female orchestra.
Roya Sadat's film A Letter to the President will be screened at the Seattle International Film Festival on February 12 and a collaboration with Lake City-based Refugee Artisan Initiative will commission nine Afghan women to design and create a custom embroidery project, to be displayed alongside an original ArtLords mural in McCaw Hall during the run of A Thousand Splendid Suns. In addition, Seattle Opera is collecting donations of food and supplies at each performance to support Afghan refugees in the Puget Sound region.
“Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban have turned Afghanistan into a massive prison for women and girls,” said Sadat. “Education, employment, free mobility, freedom of expression, and equal access to services have been restricted or fully banned. We cannot turn a blind eye. We must tell stories of suffering and sacrifice – but we must also tell stories of hope and humanity. A Thousand Splendid Suns does just that."
Performances
• World Premiere
• Music by Sheila Silver, libretto by Stephen Kitsakos
• Sung in English with English supertitles
• Run time approx. three hours with one intermission
• Tickets $35-$349
McCaw Hall (321 Mercer St, Seattle, WA 98109)
Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 7:30pm
Sunday, February 26, 2023 at 2:00pm
Friday, March 3, 2023 at 7:30pm
Sunday, March 5, 2023 at 2:00pm
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 at 7:30pm
Saturday, March 11, 2023 at 7:30pm
Creative Team
Conductor: Viswa Subbaraman
Director: Roya Sadat
Cultural Consultant: Humaira Ghilzai
Set Designer: Misha Kachman
Costume Designer: Deborah Trout
Lighting Designer: Jen Schriever
Fight Director and Intimacy Coach: Geoffrey Alm
Costume Cultural and Historical Consultant: Rika Sadat
Production Consultant: Aziz Deildaar
Cast
Mariam: Karin Mushegain
Laila: Maureen McKay
Rasheed: John Moore
Tariq: Rafael Moras
Nana/Market Woman #1/Wajma: Tess Altiveros
Hakim/Driver: Ashraf Sewailam
Fariba/Wife #3: Sarah Coit
Wife #1/Market Woman #3: Sarah Mattox
Wife #2/Market Woman #2: Ibidunni Ojikutu
Jalil/Wakil/Guard: Martin Bakari
Mullah/Sharif/Soldier: Andrew Potter
On Friday, February 24, at 7pm, Humaira Ghilzai will moderate an Opera Talk featuring Sheila Silver, Stephen Kitsakos, Roya Sadat, and Viswa Subbaraman.
For more information and to hear musical excerpts, visit seattleopera.org/suns.
About Roya Sadat
Widely recognized as Afghanistan’s first female film and television producer during the post-Taliban era, Roya Sadat is the winner of more than 20 international film awards, including the 2021 Kim Dae-jung Nobel Peace Film Award and the 2018 International Women of Courage Award presented by the United States Department of State. Sadat was featured among the BBC’s 100 Inspiring and Influential Women for 2021, and her three films – A Letter to the President (’17), Playing the Taar (’08), and Three Dots (’03) – have been invited to more than 60 international film festivals. A Letter to the President was selected as the official entry from Afghanistan for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards. In addition to her feature films, she has produced eight documentary films, three television programs, and a music video.
About Sheila Silver
Sheila Silver is a distinguished composer of chamber and orchestral music, songs, and opera.“Only a few composers in any generation enliven the art form with their musical language and herald new directions in music. Sheila Silver is such a visionary.” (Wetterauer Zeitung) A Thousand Splendid Suns was developed with the support of American Opera Projects, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Opera America, including two Virginia B. Toulmin awards (Discovery Grant and Commissioning Grant). As a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, she traveled to India to study Hindustani music with master singer Kedar Narayan Bodas in order to incorporate elements of Hindustani music into her score for A Thousand Splendid Suns. Her opera The Wooden Sword won the Sackler Prize in Music Composition for Opera. Other awards include the Rome Prize, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Composers Award, a Bunting Institute/Radcliffe Fellowship, and the Prix de Paris. Her work has been commissioned and performed throughout the world. She is Professor Emeritus of Music at Stony Brook University. Silver was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, and began studying piano at the age of 5. She and her husband, filmmaker John Feldman, make their home in the Hudson Valley, New York. Their son, Victor Feldman, is a journalist.
About Seattle Opera
Established in 1963, Seattle Opera is committed to serving the people of the Pacific Northwest through music, storytelling, and programs for people of all ages. Each year, more than 80,000 people attend the company's performances, and more than 100,000 people are served through school performances, radio broadcasts, and more. The organization brings opera to life in a number of different ways, offering artistic excellence through national and international collaborations. Seattle Opera strives to create an environment where artists, staff, behind-the-scenes workers, and members of the community feel a strong connection to the company, and to the art of opera. Follow Seattle Opera on Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud, and on Classical KING FM 98.1.
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