Tafreshipour: The Doll Behind the Curtain Jonathan von Schwanenflügel, Signe Sneh Durholm, Elenor Wiman, Jakob Bloch Jespersen, Athelas Sinfonietta & Eirik Haukaas Ødegaard

• Amir Mahyar Tafreshipour (b. 1974): The Doll Behind the Curtain:
• 1 Tafreshipour: The Doll Behind the Curtain: Opening 01:02
• The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act I, Scene 1:
• 2 Tafreshipour: The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act I, Scene 1: What Is It She Wants to Tell Me? 01:57
• The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act I, Scene 2:
• 3 Tafreshipour: The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act I, Scene 2: One of the Pleasures of Le Havre 17:52
• The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act I, Scene 3:
• 4 Tafreshipour: The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act I, Scene 3: Giselle! You've Sat There for an Hour 11:09
• The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act I, Scene 4:
• 5 Tafreshipour: The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act I, Scene 4: No Woman I Have Ever Seen 03:29
• The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act II, Scene 1:
• 6 Tafreshipour: The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act II, Scene 1: Mehrdad, I Call you Beloved 07:25
• The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act II, Scene 2:
• 7 Tafreshipour: The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act II, Scene 2: Now It Is Winter 00:51
• The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act II, Scene 3:
• 8 Tafreshipour: The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act II, Scene 3: Bita, My Dear, Come 04:14
• The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act II, Scene 4:
• 9 Tafreshipour: The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act II, Scene 4: Bita 00:55
• The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act II, Scene 5:
• 10 Tafreshipour: The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act II, Scene 5: Ay, This Weather 06:42
• The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act II, Scene 6:
• 11 Tafreshipour: The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act II, Scene 6: Is This My Rival? 02:52
• The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act II, Scene 7:
• 12 Tafreshipour: The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act II, Scene 7: Every City Has Its Secrets 01:25
• The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act II, Scene 8:
• 13 Tafreshipour: The Doll Behind the Curtain, Act II, Scene 8: Another Night in the Vortex 08:14
• Total Runtime 01:08:07

Info for Tafreshipour: The Doll Behind the Curtain

Die Puppe hinter dem Vorhang ist eine Oper des iranisch-dänischen Komponisten Amir Mahyar Tafreshipour und des Librettisten Dominic Power, die auf der gleichnamigen Kurzgeschichte von Sadeq Hedayat (1903-51), Irans erstem modernistischen Schriftsteller, basiert. Sie erforscht Themen wie Entfremdung, die Geheimnisse der menschlichen Sexualität und die Dissonanz zwischen Ost und West, Tradition und Moderne, sowohl musikalisch als auch kulturell. Die Oper spielt in Le Havre und Teheran in den 1930er Jahren und erzählt die Geschichte von Mehrdad, einem schüchternen iranischen Studenten, der in der französischen Hafenstadt studiert. Nachdem er in einem Trödelladen eine Schaufensterpuppe gefunden hat, ist er besessen von ihrer makellosen und unveränderlichen Schönheit und bringt sie mit nach Teheran. Seine Verliebtheit und seine innere Zerrissenheit führen dazu, dass er sein eigenes Leben und das seiner Verlobten Bita zerstört, die mit ihrer stillen Rivalin zu konkurrieren versucht. Das originelle und anspruchsvolle Musiktheaterwerk The Doll behind the Curtain wurde 2015 komponiert und ist Tafreshipours erste Oper sowie die erste iranische Oper mit einem englischen Libretto. Sie wurde 2015 in London uraufgeführt und ist hier in einer Aufnahme des Teams zu hören, das sie auch 2020 an der Königlich Dänischen Oper aufgeführt hat.

Jonathan von Schwanenflügel, Tenor
Per Bach Nissen, Bass
Signe Sneh Durholm, Sopran
Elenor Wiman, Mezzosopran
Thomas Storm, Bariton
Maria Dreisig, Sopran
Jakob Bloch Jespersen, Bass-Bariton
Athelas Sinfonietta
Eirik Haukaas Ødegaard, Dirigent

Eirik Haukaas Ødegaard
s an up-and-coming conductor from Norway. He studied conducting and percussion at the Norwegian Academy of Music, where he received his bachelors and masters under Ole Kristian Ruud. Currently, Eirik is taking a post-graduate degree at the Royal Danish Academy of music under Giordano Bellincampi.

Eirik made his first professional appearance conducting the world premiere of a chamber opera by Jexper Holmen at the 2019 Copenhagen Avantgarde Music Festival. He is also a participant in the new norwegian talent-development programme for conductors, "Dirigentforum", and has attended masterclasses with renowned conductors and pedagogues such as Paavo Järvi, Neeme Järvi, Vasily Petrenko, Johannes Schlaefli, Mark Stringer and Atso Almila.

As a part of his education, Eirik has conducted several professional orchestras and wind bands in performance, such as Århus Symphony Orchestra, Odense Symphony Orchestra, South Denmark Philharmonic, Royal Norwegian Navy Band, Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra.

Athelas Sinfonietta
has long been established as a leading Danish Chamber ensemble and the nation’s foremost new music ensemble. Concert series, participation in operas and festivals, international tours, numerous CD recordings and imaginative concert programming has made Athelas a remarkable institution.

Nevertheless Athelas is changing, having recently established a new artistic triumvirate leadership, including two of Denmark’s youngest and most profiled composers. Their ambition is to direct the repertoire towards a sharper, contemporary profile – and to work more radically with the concert formats.

One focus will be the “through-composed” concerts where videos, happenings and staging effects bind the music pieces together to one artistic event.

Another focus will be to open up the concerts by rethinking them as social events that embraces and includes the audience. As artistic co-director Christian Winther Christensen says: “We all know that when we go out for a concert it’s not only because we want to hear particular pieces of music. We also go to socialize, have a good time, enjoy ourselves, and to experience an event!”

Booklet for Tafreshipour: The Doll Behind the Curtain