An opera group ‘Ayric Ensemble’ plans to stage Roodabeh Operetta as the first Iranian opera, narrating the love story of ‘Zal’ and ‘Roodabeh’, two characters of ‘Shahnameh’ - also known as the ‘Book of Kings’ written by the famous Persian poet Ferdowsi in the form of a long epic poem.
Directed by Saeid Mirzaei, the operetta is a stage adaptation of a poem in Shahnameh, and supervised by Shaghayegh Bagheri, IRNA reported.
It is the story of an epic hero (Zal) falling in love with a princess (Roodabeh) regardless of the customary norms. The operetta focuses on the role of Roodabeh who pioneers an unconventional method in terms of the marriage between a hero and a princess.
It will be staged in the form of classical music using piano and recorder- a family of woodwind musical instruments - played by Alvin Avanesian and Taraneh Pour-Yusef respectively, while taking advantage of all the features of an opera such as decor, costume, make up, etc.
The music and text are written by Mohammad Kiakhosravi, an Iranian artist residing in Austria, and will be performed by him, Shaghayegh Bagheri, Milad Bagheri, Farzad Berahman, Negin Goudarzi, Elaheh Heidari, Flora Farzaneh, and Sara Mostafavi-Nasab.
It is scheduled for release from April 23 to 29 at the Roudaki Amphitheater in Tehran’s Vahdat Hall.
Operetta is a short opera, usually on a light or humorous theme, that typically has spoken dialogues.
Loris Tjeknavorian, a veteran orchestra conductor, had staged ‘Rostam and Sohrab’ using a singer instead of a set of players. Moreover, Homayoun Shajarian, a renowned Persian classical music vocalist, performed the ‘Simorgh’ orchestra based on Ferdowsi’s poetry of the same title.
