OVERVIEW

A new opera by Idin Samimi Mofakham and Martyna Kosecka binds the Greek/Roman mythology with the 20th century plot, arranging At the waters of Lethe into the modern dimension of music and theatrical gesture. In Greek mythology, Lethe was one of the five rivers of Hades. Also known as the Ameles Potamos (River of Unmindfulness), the Lethe flowed around the cave of Hypnos and through the Underworld, where all those who drank from it experienced complete forgetfulness. All of the characters in the opera exist in a netherworld where their actions are about to be judged by Lethe. She is not a simple representative of a Lady Justice, she is something more: exploring multiple levels of understanding, judging, and translating the reasons for various decisions in the life stories of people such as Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa, Alfred Schnittke, Robert Schumann and the abstract character of Edward Mordake. The main subject of the opera brings the questions of why? and was I right...?

Idin Samaimi Mofakham (1982, Tehran) is a composer, musicologist, and sound artist completed his B.A and M.A in musicology and composition in Armenia. He is a permanent member of Iranian Society of Composers. He is also a founding member of the Music Composition and Theory Department of the University of Applied Science and Technology in Tehran, Iran. He has had the honor to be invited as the Composer in Residence to festivals worldwide, such as MATA15 (2015, USA), 4020 Linz (2013 and 2015, Austria), Visby International Centre for Composers (2014, Sweden), Convergence (Georgia), LUCA – campus Lemmensinstituut (2014, Belgium), Ostrava Days 2013 and 2015, and many others. In 2013, together
with Polish composer Martyna Kosecka, he co-founded the Spectro Centre for New Music, specialising in giving workshops in the area of modern music and organising concerts. His works are mostly composed for chamber ensembles and based on traditional and folk music
of Iran. He has also collaborated with visual and video artists from Iran and Armenia and made several sound installations for art exhibitions in Iran.

 

Martyna Kosecka (1989, Gdynia) obtained an MA degree in the composition and BA degree in orchestral conducting at the Music Academy in Krakow, Poland. She is a winner of an International 5-Minute Opera Composition Competition during the 28th Music Biennale in Zagreb, Croatia (2015). She was also a finalist of the 54th Tadeusz Baird Young Composers Competition (2013) and a laureate of the 4th Zygmunt Mycielski National Composers’ Competition (2013). Her compositions have been played at the Festivals
of Contemporary Music Warsaw Autumn, AudioArt Festival in Krakow, SoundScreen Festival in Bydgoszcz, aXes Festival in Krakow, Ostrava Days 2013 and 2015, IMPULS 2015 Festival in Austria, and many others. In 2013, together with Iranian composer Idin Samimi Mofakham, she co-founded Spectro Centre for New Music, specialising in giving workshops in the area of modern music and organising.