FULL AL HAKAWATI (Karim Al-Zand) Cologne 2024 Miriam Khalil

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: Al Hakawati  
• Composer: Al-Zand Karim   
• Libretto: inspired by the medieval Arabic tales known under the title 'Alf Laylah wa-Laylah' (One Thousand and One Nights).  
• Venue & Opera Company: Kölner Philharmonie, Köln, Germany  
• Recorded: September 21, 2024
• Type: Concert Live
• Singers: Miriam Khalil
• Conductor: Cristian Măcelaru  
• Orchestra: WDR Sinfonieorchester  
• Stage Director:   
• Costume Designer:   

Information about the Recording

• Published by: WDR Klassik  
• Date Published: 2024  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: nosubs  

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

PROGRAMME:

Karim Al-Zand
Al Hakawati
Kompositionsauftrag des WDR und des Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music
Deutsche Erstaufführung

Dmitrij Schostakowitsch
Konzert Nr. 1 Es-Dur für Violoncello und Orchester op. 107

Nikolaj Rimskij-Korsakow
Sheherazade op. 35

The music of Canadian-American composer Karim Al-Zand reflects a wide variety of interests, themes and influences. Al-Zand explores connections between music and other media, drawing inspiration from graphic art, myths and fables, folk music from around the world, film, spoken word, jazz and his own Middle Eastern heritage. He himself describes his orchestral work “Al Hakawati”:

“‘Al Hakawati’ (The Storyteller) presents fragments from an opera currently in production entitled ‘The Book of Tales’. It is inspired by the medieval Arabic tales known under the title ‘Alf Laylah wa-Laylah’ (One Thousand and One Nights).

The opera connects stories and storytellers across time and place: from the present day, through the Ancien Régime in France, to the imaginary world of Scheherazade. The fragments in ‘Al Hakawati’ consist of four ‘scenes’ in which the main female characters of the opera appear.

1. ‘I shudder, I tremble’: The famous storyteller Scheherazade reflects on her precarious situation: every night she tells stories to the murderous Shahriar in order to delay her execution.

2. ‘He is sleeping’: Shahriar has finally fallen asleep. Full of rage, Scheherazade prepares to set fire to his bed.

3. ‘Dance of the Seven Swords’ (orchestra): Murjana dances for her husband Ali Baba and a merchant. Only she has recognized the true identity of the guest: it is Nadir, the leader of a gang of thieves. He plans to kill her thoughtless husband, who foolishly stole her treasure. At the climax of the dance, she eliminates the villain.

4. ‘As far as I know’: Tarina Safar, a fictional scholar of medieval Arabic, has discovered the manuscript of Hanna Diyab in the Vatican library. She marvels at the power of stories and storytellers.”
Quoted from WDR, By Otto Hagedorn

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