Sarasota chorus to perform U.S. premiere of ancient Persian love story
Key Chorale is providing Sarasota music lovers a chance to experience something new and old simultaneously with the Feb. 10 U.S. premiere of Farhad Poupel’s “The Legend of Bijan and Manijeh.”
The piece, which had its premiere in 2022 with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra in Ontario, Canada, is based on an ancient Farsi love story featured in the epic poem “Shahnameh (The Book of Kings”) by Persian poet Ferdowsi. Made up of about 50,000 couplets, it was written between 977 and 1010 AD.
“You just don’t hear Persian voices and stories in western concert halls,” Artistic Director Joseph Caulkins said. “And that’s a real omission.”
Caulkins will lead the 100-voice choral ensemble, along with an orchestra and piano soloist Jeffrey Biegel, who introduced the piece to Caulkins after performing in the world premiere.
“We’ve been friends for more than 30 years or more and he’s one of those triple threat people – an incredible performer, an entrepreneur and a great composer,” Caulkins said of Biegel, who previously performed with Key Chorale in 2018 for the Beethoven Choral Fantasy.
“There’s so little work for chorus, orchestra and piano soloist and I appreciate that combination,” he said.
Poupel, who was born in Iran and now lives outside London, said people even though the the poem dates back centuries, it is still read. “The stories are like Shakespeare. There is always something for everyone in any era,” he said in a Zoom call.
It is a “love story about people from two countries that are enemies. The girl is the daughter of the king of an enemy country of Iran,” he said.
Caulkins said Poupel’s music is “very cinematic. It is deeply interesting story telling of this exotic story, at least exotic to us. Concertgoers can step into this ancient world and hear some of this amazing harmonic language Farhad has put together. You hear the word contemporary music and you think it might be jarring, but it’s not. It’s vibrant, interesting with great moments for the orchestra, the concert pianist and the chorus.”
Poupel said his own style is influenced by movie music. “The book is so imaginative in terms of description and has some cinematic techniques. It cuts back and forth between two stories, in slow motion," he said. "Whenever you read that you see movie images. That’s why the music has to be cinematic. Persian music, at least traditional Persian music of that time, is not adequate for this kind of piece.”
The piece is part of Key Chorale’s “Triumph of Love” concert, featuring a diverse array of music that also includes Poupel's “Childhood Memories,” a three-movement Persian suite that Caulkins described as a “beautiful lullaby that he wrote for his grandmother.”
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The program also includes Emma Lou Diemer’s “Three Shakespeare Madrigals,” Daniel Pinkham’s “Wedding Cantata,” Jean Sibelius’ “The Captive Queen” and the Scottish song “O Waly, Waly” by René Clausen.
“The ‘Shakespeare Madrigals’ for piano and choir are lively and peppy and the ‘Wedding Cantata’ is from the ‘Song of Solomon,’ with Old Testament words and a modern setting," Caulkins said.
Audiences also will hear the orchestra performing the adagietto from Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. “It’s a love letter to his wife, Alma,” Caulkins said.
Caulkins, Poupel and Biegel will do a pre-concert talk about the program at 3 p.m. prior to the 4 p.m. concert.
‘Triumph of Love’
Key Chorale, Joseph Caulkins artistic director, and pianist Jeffrey Biegel. 4 p.m. Feb. 10, church of the Palms, 3224 Bee Ridge Rd., Sarasota. Tickets are $35-$45. 941-552-8768; keychorale.org
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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Epic Persian love story retold by Key Chorale in U.S. premiere concert
