"Through Windows of Desire" for Soprano and Orchestra is my recent collaboration with Elizaveta Agrafenina, Stijn Berkouwer, and the Netherlands Student Chamber Orchestra (Nesko). Commissioned by Nesko and Fonds Podiumkunsten, the piece is written on a translated poem by Forugh Farrokhzad (1935 – 1967), a famous, influential and prominent Iranian poet, filmmaker and director.
In April and May of 2022, the work got its premiere 7 times during the concert tour of Nesko, "Staat Sterk", across the Netherlands.
In this work, I am reflecting and expressing the inner emotions and strong thoughts of Forugh Farrokhzad, who fought for women’s freedom and women’s rights throughout her whole professional life. Back in history, women have always been a very common subject of Persian poetry, but not more than a handful of women’s names appear in the list of influential artists and poets in the history of Iran. Hence, It was for the first time that Forugh spoke about her inner emotions and her desires as a woman in an extremely traditional and religious society. Her poems are autobiographical and from a feminine perspective that has not existed in Persian literature before. Moreover, her poems contain many cultural references that make them very much connected to society and her surroundings.
But on the contrary, “Through Windows of Desire” is not just only about the time of Forugh Farrokhzad right before the Iranian revolution nor about women’s rights, particularly in Iran’s society, but is a reflection of universal issues that are still happening all around the world. It is about unheard voices and untold stories. Voices that have tried to speak out but never got an opportunity. It is about the unreachable desire for equality in any society. Consequently, in my composition, I created a multi-textural orchestration and multi-layered music world that symbolically confronts the singer as a lonely woman in the middle of a chaotic and masculine society. A singer who searches for “a window to a moment of comprehension, perception, and silence.”
The Beginning
Everything started with my friendship with Stijn Berkouwer. Back in 2021, when everything was under the dark shade of the COVID-19 pandemic, I got a great opportunity to collaborate with him on another project together with Krashna Orchestra. And that marked the beginning of our collaboration.
From our first meeting, I got very much connected to his aesthetic, vast knowledge, and deep understanding of music and drama. It turned out that there are so many common things between us: we were both composition students of Maesteo Willem Jeths, and we both loved the "Three Songs for Soprano and Orchestra by Osvaldo Golijov" and "Folk Songs by Luciano Berio." He is passionate about sailing with his boat in Amsterdam canals, and I have always been fascinated by sailing ships and the sea (remember the other blogs: a shipwreck, and a shimmering light?) So we had so many common interests and ideas to discuss which ended up with the initiative of a new project with Nesko.
Soloist: The Phantom of Presto, Elizaveta Agrafenina
I have known Elizaveta for already many years. She is a very close friend of mine, and in fact, she was my downstairs neighbour for some years in Amsterdam. Back in that time, every day I could hear her practising and singing beautiful and grand soprano arias. Our building was called Presto, and as an inside joke, I started to call her "the phantom of the Presto." I truly loved her voice and we had (still have) a strong bond. Therefore, I always wanted to join forces and collaborate with her on a project. So the project with Nesko was the best opportunity.
During the time I was working on the piece, she was very much involved in the whole process of creating it. I had the unique chance to ask her questions about the soprano part freely, and she was open to experimenting with her voice. We had several months to dive deeper into the music and, beyond that, to understand the text. For us, it was a journey to first reveal the secrets, symbols, and all the drama hidden beneath the poem, and then to find the connections in terms of emotions, expressions, and interpretations with my score.
The most important lesson I have learned during the process: as a composer, the best way to write for voice is to know the singer and write for their voice.
But aside from my own experience just to prove my point, if you look back at history, the most extraordinary arias have been written for the specific singers whom the composers knew closely and well. Mozart's Queen of the Night was written for her sister-in-law Josepha Hofer¹, Lucian Berio's Sequenza III and Folk Songs have been all written for her wife Cathy Berberian², Richard Ayres' timeless and monumental piece "In the Alps" was written specifically for Barbara Hannigan.
A Wild Week of Rehearsals and Party Nights!
Back in the middle of April, Nesko started a week of rehearsals right before the concert tour. They all stayed in Idskenhuizen, a village in the Netherlands.
The planning was simple: morning till evening rehearsals, evening till morning party. They had a full week to get to know each other, work on all the pieces and enjoy making music. And I had the chance to attend the rehearsals (but not the parties to go through the piece.
Perhaps one of the remarkable things about these rehearsals was the amount of rehearsal time. Nowadays, most orchestras often don't have enough time to rehearse pieces. Usually, having even two rehearsals for a contemporary piece is uncommon. Therefore, working with Nesko had the luxury of time.
When Music Meets Literature
Forugh Farrokhzad is among the most influential poets in modern Iranian poetry. I wrote the piece on a very beautiful English translation by a Persian poet, playwright and literary translator Sholeh Wolpé.
In her book “Sin- Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad”, Sholeh translated selected poems by Forugh Farrokhzad. Amongst these beautiful works, I chose the poem “Window” as my main source of inspiration and the lyrics of my composition.
In the following video, Sholeh herself talks about Forugh Farrokhzad and her enduring legacy.
In the video below, listen to Sholeh Wolpé reading her translation of the touching poem "Window" by Forugh Farrokhzad.
Acknowledgement
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the incredible management board and incredible friends of the Nesko Chamber Orchestra (Sanne Pouw, Mischa Niemel, Tim Huijbregts, Christiaan Kroon, Vink Beijer, Maike de Jongh) and all my talented friends from the Nesko Orchestra. Also, my heartfelt gratitude to Elizaveta Agrafenina and Stijn Berkouwer for trusting me and joining me on this journey.
"Through Windows of Deire" is ready to be brought to Life. Scores and parts are available on demand. More information about the piece:
References:
Corneilson, P. (n.d.). Josepha Hofer, First Queen of the Night. Paper presented at the conference After the Magic Flute, organized by Adeline Mueller, University of California, Berkeley, March 2010.
Meehan, Kate, "Not Just a Pretty Voice: Cathy Berberian as Collaborator, Composer and Creator" (2011).
