2/24, Friday, I went to an "opera talk" on the creation of this new opera A Thousand Splendid Suns, adapted from Khaled Hosseini's 2nd novel.
From left to right in the photo:- moderator: Humaira Ghilzai, Cultural Advisor
- composer: Sheila Silver
- librettist: Stephen Kitsakos
- conductor: Viswa Subbaraman
- stage director: Roya Sadat
All of them praised how beautiful the music is, which really intrigued me. My last experience of a new opera was very disappointing.
3/3, Friday, Seattle Opera has a special sale for today's performance only, so I went to see the highly-anticipated production.
Yes, the music, at least the orchestra part, is indeed beautiful. Sounds like an epic movie score. Sounds definitely different from others.
The stage set is very nice: the market scene in this photo, the little shack in the mountain, the rooms of Mariam's and Leila's on either side of a wall (which, they are rotating it at least twice too many).
The costums, lighting, acting, the music conductor, all great.
The stage direction is excellent: the story plays out very well, dramatized like a movie. Audience were captivated by the plot development. However, it down played the political background, and emphasized the personal story.
Now the negative parts:
Unfortunately no memorable songs, except one (1) early in the 1st act, when the wives of Mariam's father take turns of urging the 15 year-old her marrying a mid-aged man. I don't like the libretto, maybe because it's in English. Even the one the librettist so proudly spoke of, that was borrowed from a Persian love poem, fell flat in the duet. English is really a terrible language to sing opera in. How can you pronounce "courage", "daughter"? No arias, duets or any other singing parts are pleasing to my untrained ears. They almost sound like shouting above the orchestra.
After the opera, I stayed on to listen to 2 singers talking about their experience. They praised Seattle opera a great deal for its support and planning. The culture advisor and Johnathan Dean were also there. I haven't seen Dean for ages. He has certainly aged. I was late for the pre-concert talk with the composer. Nothing interesting to report. I really like her: soft spoken.
There're posters in the lobby about Afghan history over the span of the story, photos and newspaper clips. Overall, a very good production. Treat it as a very slow movie, and you'll enjoy it.
As for the novel, I read it when the book first came out, because I liked Hosseini's first novel "The Kite Runner". I didn't like this 2nd novel, felt more engineered, more contrived. Even the title (taken from a poem) has little relation with any part of the story.
