ABOUT THE COMPANY
Creative Team
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Bushra El Turk: composer
Bushra El-Turk’s music has been performed by ensembles such as the BBC
Symphony Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra, forbearing the influence of
her Lebanese roots and straddles Eastern and Western idioms. She was chosen in
2013 and 2014 as one of the BBC 100 inspiring women of the year.
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Merit Ariane: singer, co-creator
Merit Ariane’s “graceful voice” (Telegraph****) uniquely combines the colours of her
classical western and Arabic musical training and has been featured on the BBC,
Channel 4, Al Jazeera and Sky Arabic. Exploring boundaries between music, theatre,
cultures and languages, she has collaborated with institutions like Shakespeare’s
Globe, Royal Opera House and Opera North.
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Maria Koripas: director, choreographer
Maria Koripas began life as dancer. As movement director she has been involved in
multi-disciplinary projects, particularly in the field of opera with the Royal Opera,
Covent Garden and English National Opera performing in new productions, revivals
and Royal Galas.
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Sabrina Mahfouz: librettist
Sabrina Mahfouz, “one of the rising stars of new British playwrighting” (Scotsman), is
a British Egyptian poet, playwright, performer and writer.She received a Fringe First
Award for Chef and won a Sky Arts Academy Poetry Award.
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...and the Musicians - Ensemble Zar
Ensemble Zar is a fresh and fearless cross-genre ensemble whose mission is to express the Middle Eastern artistic temperament in its rawest form, and experiment with new sounds in the process. It’s musicians are well-versed in both Eastern and Western idioms, culminating in ancient Western and Asian instruments, equally at home performing complex written contemporary music as well as masters of improvisation, relishing in the spontaneous nature of Oriental music.
https://www.bushraelturk.com/ensemble-zar
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Our Working Method
Maria, informed by her philosophy and extensive life in opera as movement director
and choreographer, is the catalyst behind the opera’s physical, emotional and
dramatic vision. Working hand in hand with Bushra, they explored and developed an
intertwining of musical and physical gesture, creating the basis for a raw and knife
language apt to reflect the horrors faced by Firdaus. Bushra opened up her process
of composing and allowed her own musical language to be impacted both by
physical process and by the idiomatic voices of the musicians. Sabrina’s
development of a poetic, rhythmical, almost minimalist language for the libretto was
influenced by, and influenced, the collaborative process; her role often crossing over
into dramaturgy and illuminating the dramatic intention. Singing the role of Firdaus,
Merit, a creative artist, leader and composer in her own right, has been closely
involved in defining the story’s focus and developing the dramatic and musical
journey of the opera.