Librettist: Jean-Claude Carrière
Libretto version of Peter Brook, translated by Daniel Schvetz, and revised by Oriana Alves
Children’s opera in five acts
Date: 2017
Language: Portuguese
Duration: 80 minutes
Small-scale
Soloist: soprano
Chorus
Fl | 2 Ob | 2 Cl | Fg| 2 Hn | 3 Perc | Vln | Vla | Vc | Cb
The hoopoe tries to convince all the birds, in a conference, with multiple arguments, to undertake a long and dangerous journey to go and meet the king of the birds, passing through seven valleys and undergoing initiatory trials before the doors of the unknown king’s palace are opened to them.
Most of the birds counter-argue, with various excuses, the reasons for not participating in this feat, and the hoopoe uses Sufi tales and legends to circumvent their rejections. Finally, thirty of them, very degraded and fatigued after crossing the mysterious valleys, ask the palace valet to go and see the king whose name is Simourgh, which means “thirty birds,” and when the door to the great hall is opened, they enter and find themselves in a hall full of mirrors; the king of each one is, such is the intended message, within us.
Date: 2017
Venue: Grande Auditório do Centro Cultural de Belém
Commission: Conservatório Nacional de Lisboa (EMCN)
Stage Director: Rúben Saints
Music Director: Ricardo Mateus
Cast: Lea Managil, Chorus and Orchestra of the Atelier Musical da Escola de Música do Conservatório Nacional
