`A Portrait of Sadness’
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O che muso - Mustafa/Isabella duet, L’Italiana in Algeri, Rossini
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Tu sul labbro dai veggenti - Zacaria’s aria, Nabucco, Verdi
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Guerrieri! A voi venirne - Oroveso recit, Norma, Bellini
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Sul dolore/sofferenza - Bruno Culotti
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Truth is dawning - Susanin’s aria, Susanin, Glinka
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Come del ciel - Banco’s aria, Macbeth, Verdi
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Persian farewell - Farid Sheek
`A Portrait of Sadness’ weaves together a variety of Opera Arias and draws on both western and Persian classical traditions to tell a deeply human story of love and loss. The Arias follow the life trajectory of a leader who prepares to go to war, finds love in dark times, experiences the death of his child and a broken marriage and is plagued by doubts and a tormented conscious. These arias show the ups and downs of life and investigate the extremes of human emotions: from love to hate, hope to loss, happiness to sadness. This existential musical journey comes to an end with the sad tones of the Persian Bayat Turk, Homayun and Segah scales sounding a final sad farewell. Mohsen Masoumi, who is a Persian
Opera singer, trained in Iran, Russian, Italy and Netherlands believes no music can speak of longing and sadness like the scales of Persian traditional music, which unlike Western classical music, is an oral based tradition that is improvisational in nature. The piece `A Persian Farewell’, was composed by Farid Sheek for the occasion of this final MA recital . `A Persian Farewell’ is a conversation between eastern and western musical traditions and Mohsen Masoumi’s artistic suggestion for how to innovate Opera by opening it up to an eastern musical beyond. The final recital `A Portrait of sadness’ cuts across western and eastern musical traditions, showing the universality of the theme of sadness and revealing the uniqueness of the singer whose life trajectory, identity and musicality span eastern and western divides.
Toon Bierman
Toon Bierman graduated in 2007 at Fontys Highschool of Music in Tilburg with main teacher Joop Albracht. He’s a laureate of the Prinses Christina Concours both in 1999 and 2001 and in 2006 he won the juryprize of modern music series De Link. After his studies he focused on modern chamber music in several ensembles including Lunapark and Lunatree.
Lucie Van Ree
Lucie van Ree is a Dutch mezzo-soprano with a great passion for music and theatre. She is currently involved with the Dutch national opera academy where she studies with Hanneke de Wit. Before she enjoyed her studies at Fontys school of fine and performing arts where she studied with Jard van Nes en Harry Ruijl.
Morann
De Langhe
Actress, soprano and director Morann De Langhe, originally from Belgium and now currently living in the Netherlands, distinguishes herself as an artist through her theatrical character and her moving and intriguing music theatre performances. She dedicates her artistry to exploring the relationship between theatre and classical music, both outside and within the art of opera.
Farid Sheek
“Music allows you to tell a story that is bigger than words can capture.” As a composer and performing musician on the piano and the daf (a percussive instrument), Farid Sheek tells tories about his Iranian roots and western influences. The result is stunning
Choir
Annelies Deweerdt
Soprano
Adelaide Ouwerkerk
Soprano
Marielena Papadopoulou
Soprano
Anna Maria Gemisheva
Mezzo Soprano
