FEDORA - World Opera Lab - Visibility Campaign 2024

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World Opera Lab - Visibility Campaign 2024

Details

22 July 2024

Amsterdam / Netherlands

Platform Members, Roadshow

Brides of the Rain is inspired by an ancient Kurdish ritual for rain for the goddess Ana. The ritual takes us back to the foundation of our civilizations; stories of water goddesses and the water where they were born; Tiamat, from whose water the earth and heaven are made, Oshun, whose river brings peace, and the ancient Maya goddess who preserves the last water of the world. The water sources they protect are still sacred; the Euphrates and Tigris in Iraq, the Oshun River in Nigeria and the underground cenotes in the Yucatan in Mexico.

Today, the sacred rivers and springs are in danger, gold is being mined in Nigeria's sacred rivers, the Euphrates and Tigris rivers are drying up and the underground water sources of Chac Chel are threatened by pollution. In Brides of Rain the goddesses meet each other after many years, they remind each other of the old stories. They must join forces before it's too late...

An opera as a ritual -

with new music by composers from Iraq, Kurdistan and Mexico, inspired by the sounds of the water and the music of the first civilizations. With a special cast; Shwan Sulaiman (vocals/saz), Sabra el Bahri Khatri (soprano), Vanessa Felter (vocals/dance), Haytham Safia (ud), Osama Mileegi (percussion), Wim Dijkstra (organ), Vincent Martig (clarinet), Tara Kumar (cello) and Wendy Palomeque (marimba). Visual artist Siavash Naghshbandi and director Miranda Lakerveld transform the Nassaukerk into a magical world, a world in which everything is fluid, where everything seems to come from the water, and everything returns to it.

Rain ritual for the 21st century

Brides of the Rain has been developed in a unique way. In July 2023, the first sketches of the piece were developed in Sulaymaniyah in Kurdish Iraq. The first performances will be played in the Nassaukerk in Amsterdam-West in May 2024, after which the performance will be played in Sulaymaniyah in June 2024 in collaboration with Save the Tigris, Sanjat ensemble from Baghdad and musicians from Sulaymaniyah and Basra. The performance is being developed with water organizations and water activists.