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A sneak peek at Johan Othman's upcoming
opera premiere Conference of the Birds
 Opera
fans will have a treat at the end of the year when Penang-based
composer Johan Othman unveils his long-awaited opus Conference
of the Birds. Othman had been mulling about the completion
of the opera since several years back, and finally took the
first step by premiering a short aria from his work in progress
during the Young Composers Workshop 08 in July 08.
The success of this miniature, exquisitely sung by KL-based
soprano Chin Yen Lin, propelled the composer to start serious
work on the full opera in time for its workshop performance
co produced by Five Arts and James Lochhead.
Othman draws his inspiration from a Persian poem Mantiq-ut-Tayr
by Farid ud-Din Attar. Says the composer, "It is about
the bird kingdom, aware that they have no king, and setting
out to look for one known as the Simorgh. The Hoopoe has been
elected to take the birds through seven valleys to meet the
king. The journey is a difficult one and many birds express
their reluctance. The Hoopoe counters every doubt. At the end
of the journey the birds discover that the Simorgh is actually
none other than themselves."
In an interview with Off The Edge in August 09 Othman said
of his choice of texts, "I was looking for a text that
would portray a powerful source of spirituality, which is much
lacking in the world today. Modern living with high speed working
process and materialism does not give much room for one to sit
and contemplate about life and one’s inner self. Most living
processes today are too much on the surface: what one sees on
the outside is more important than the inner nature of every
thing and every one."
 William
Radice, a poet and writer well known for his translations of
Rabindranath Tagore, has fashioned the poem into the opera's
libretto, and Othman has found a number of Penang vocalists
to carry his texts, which will be set against an electroacoustic
score.
"I had a few texts in mind and William Radice and myself
finally came to agree on Attar’s Conference of the Birds.
Funny thing is that my recent chamber piece is called ‘ittar’
referring to perfume. The poem contains strong messages of high
spirituality. And I am fortunate to have William Radice,
whose libretto is very well-written, with much care to the essence
of the poem as well as story-telling as a piece of theatre.."
adds Othman. Several paintings on the subject also served as
additional inspiration, especially Yari Ostovany's Conference
of the Birds No.7 (left).
The composer's choice of an electroacoustic opera over that
of conventional instrumentation was driven by economics and
the difficulty of finding musicians, but admits that it is both
a challenge and a unique feature to present the work in this
form. "All four scenes differ in mood and sound colour.
Every scene also emanates a different energy. Overall, the
purity of sound, warm and intimate, is the kind of music I hope
to portray."
Chee Sek Thim is directing the opera's premiere production
to be staged at Wawasan Open University, Penang, on 20 - 22
November 2009.
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12 Sep 09 |
