America’s next opera is about the entry ban
mainWe reported in January about the UK-Iranian composer Soosan Lolavar who had been told she could not re-enter the US to witness the premiere of her first opera, ID, Please.
Since then, the travel ban has been eased to allow dual nationals with a British passport to enter the US. Ms Lolavar is presently in Pittsburgh, attending the premiere this weekend.
Three lines from her libretto seem extraordinarily timely:
I clutch my passport so hard my hand hurts /I’m never going back to where I’m from / I do not like the way you look at me like that.
Oh, goodie!!
What will be the next contemporary opera that is really produced, on a subject supposed to relate it to ‘real life’? ‘Brexit und Isolde’? ‘That’s how they do it all’ about war refugees in the EU? ‘ISIS und Osiris’?
Trump University and Trump Foundation.
The composer’s last name is Lolavar. Apparently the opera was inspired by Trump’s travel ban promises. Now that he is trying to make good of his promise, the opera reflects reality.
http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/music/2017/03/31/soosan-lolavar-composer-Pittsburgh-opera-theater/stories/201703290198
Soosan Lolovar has written at length about her new opera here:
https://blogs.city.ac.uk/music/2017/02/20/british-iranian-composer-and-city-phd-student-soosan-lolavar-on-her-opera-id-please-and-experiences-of-us-immigration/