JAMES STRECKER: Please tell us what you want the public to know about your work in the arts. For instance, how do you yourself describe it as a significant experience in your life and why exactly do you labor to make it exist?
AFARIN MANSOURI: I use my creativity as a vehicle for closeness of cultural traditions, creating awareness and values. My compositions are my adventures in exploring life and going beyond the limits of borders and cultures. To me, art is a tool to manifest and reflect our transcendental desires and thoughts, to make connections and to bring unity and closeness.
I hope that my artistic creations can act like a bridge, connecting my Iranian background to the world. Creativity is my nature and I try to use my art as a way of practicing gratefulness. I am inspired by everything in this world, from an emotional experience, to what I see in the nature, or a painting, a dance, poetry, listening to the news about science or war, and even talking to an unknown person. I believe everything in the world has an interesting story, which gives it depth and meaning, and I like to reflect these stories from my own perspective in my music and artistic creations.
I believe creativity does not have boundaries and limitations. Creativity is connected to a source that is beyond the borders and lines we draw as humans, lines such as race or gender that we have created in this world which only divide us. I believe as an artist that our legacy in this life could be the impact we have on our community and our making the connections we build through our art.
So why exactly do I labour to make it exist? Why do I create? I believe being creative is like being a boiling spring in nature, it’s there, it happens and can’t be stopped. One must learn how to channel it, to use it properly and not to waste. To me creativity is like the power of life that wants to experience something unique through my body and mind. All I have to do is to let it happen and not block this force. It’s sometimes scary, but also very beautiful.
JS: What exactly do you like about the work you create, as originator or as interpreter, or both?
AM: There are so many things I like about what I create. Not necessarily the product, but the process. First phase is changing ideas to notes and words on the paper. Basically, creating something from nothing! It’s so magical, it finds its own way sometimes without my thinking too much or planning, I have just trusted this voice and let it find its own way! Then the second great phase is when performers give this music creation a life by playing it. I like to call this phase “Breathing the soul into a body!”. And then the third phase is the impact it has on the audience and the audience feedback. Hearing their experience and witnessing how they have made connection and what their experiences were and what they have learnt.
Originality is a very tricky subject to talk about. In my opinion and generally speaking, we are all a hierarchy and an extension of the past generations of human efforts and experiences. So, the only original thing is the nature and existence. Human creation is only a limited interpretation of a single being’s experience in this vast existence, which is affected by the past.
However, we can say that we try to be authentic when creating something. Meaning that we are not copying something and calling it our own.
Depends on who the audience is, my compositions may sound original to some, and strange to some others; and totally familiar and not original to come and super innovative to others. Everything is relative. For example, A Persian Tango might be new and innovative to Persian ears because Tango is not Iranian, but is it original? No! Or a Farsi opera with an Eastern Tale and Eastern Exotic instruments might sound new and exciting to many non- Farsi speakers, but is it original? We may say it is authentic. Is my music new and original? In a way yes, it is because I do not steal my ideas from others! Is it original, because it comes from my mind, but it is also connected to a history of humanity and my relation to this history?
JS: Please give us an autobiography, some stuff about yourself that is relevant to the essence of your work in the arts.
AM: I am a female Iranian Canadian Composer. I grew up in Iran, a country where women are not permitted to sing. So, to be a female composer/singer and writing an opera is an exceptional act of defiance and courage on a personal level. I started playing piano when I was 8. My love for opera began at age 14, when I saw the video of Bizet’s Carmen for the first time. Having access to such a video during wartime was a forbidden act but brought me feelings of joy. I remember those joyful moments were cut off by the sirens, warning us to find a secure place due to an air raid. Since then, I have developed a lifelong passion for opera.
When I came to Canada in 2002, I started my academic training in music and chose music composition as my path. I now hold a Ph.D. in music. During all these years I found out how much I like to tell stories through my music, and that connected me more to opera.
In 2010, I co-founded Iranian-Canadian Composers of Toronto, a not-for-profit organization (now acts as a collective) along with 4 other colleagues of mine. I was acting as Artistic Director of this organization from 2010 to 2019. During this period, we produced more than 30 new musical productions and collaborated with organizations such as National Ballet of Canada, Nuit Blanche, and different festivals and orchestras. All of these productions had a story to tell: Love, identity, immigration, …
In 2016, after I finished my Master Studies at University of Toronto, I was lucky to be accepted by Tapestry opera’s LibLab and I could create 4 operatic scenes by working with 4 different writers, addressing different contemporary issues such as gender suppression, and political and social issues. Collaboration with Tapestry Opera resulted in creation of my first fully staged opera with this company. In 2018, my opera “Forbidden” gained national and international attention through the Globe and Mail and BBC as I explored my new approach to combine Eastern music with traditional opera. BBC Farsi made a documentary film based on this work for Farsi speaking people around the world. It was for the first-time that an audience could hear opera performed by Persian instruments and also mixed with hip hop music.
During 2010-2019 I collaborated with Canadian Opera Company as an advocate of opera, introducing opera to the communities who have not been exposed to this genre. For the first time in the history of this company, I gave a lecture in Farsi on some of the production to the community who has been banned from seeing an opera. I was also acting as a teaching artist, teaching multiple opera workshops to youth and children, plus being a member while working with COC’s diversity, equity and inclusivity committee.
My last production with ICOT was the creation of the operatic composition “Saffronic” as part of the stage production The Journey, Notes of Hope which considers the issues surrounding immigration and building of new identity. This operatic work is based on poetry of Banu Zan, a contemporary Iranian-Canadian poet writer.
In January 2020, I released my first Children’s Audio Opera “Little Heart” with Centre disc. This work is inspired by an Iranian children’s book about a girl who is trying to learn what love is!
After the Pandemic, I was lucky to be able to continue my composing and created my first digital opera AITCH ARR written by Donna-Michelle St Bernard. It was performed by Queen’s University opera.
I founded Cultureland, an organization to commission new works which centre on the exploration of non-western elements in terms of language, drama, music or design and I am hoping to create, produce and direct more operas in the future.
This summer I feel so lucky that the first Act of My Farsi opera “Zuleykha” is being produced and workshopped by Loose Tea Theatre and Toronto Summer Music Festival. This opera is introducing so many mystical and spiritual eastern symbols and poetry with opera to the Western audience. This opera presents the inner journey of the Biblical female character Zuleykha who was known as Potiphar’s wife. In texts, she has been regarded as a sinner and seducer of Prophet Joseph, however that perspective is from those that have been in control of her story: men. I have spent years reading and researching all the different texts and stories that Zuleyhka has been mentioned in. This opera completes and continues her story from a female perspective. It portrays the challenges she had to overcome in a male dominant society in order to find her inner voice. It is a combination of history and fiction and spirituality. The opera symbolizes the inner journey of Zuleykha in different stages: Quest, Love, Knowledge, Independence, Unity, Bewilderment and Deprivation and Doom.
The libretto is written by me in Farsi and incorporates the writings of poetry of mystic philosophers such as Rumi, Hafiz and Attar. The music of opera is open to all the people on the earth beyond cultures and borders. Language wise, the audience will experience the poetic Farsi language and sound of many traditional instruments. It combines opera with old Eastern “Maqaam” music with melismatic singing and traditional Iranian recitative style.
The score is for a mixture of Western and Eastern Instruments. We hope to fully stage this work soon in the next year.
JS: In what way is your creative work fairly easy to do and in what ways is it difficult to realize?
AM: Journalism and Media play a huge role in this. I have different experiences when it comes to realization of my work. These days it really depends on the proper way of marketing your work and if the artist is not an entrepreneur, and the work of an artist is presented by other organizations, it is their responsibility to make sure they are introducing the artist and their works properly. But if the artist is an entrepreneur, then it’s going to be even harder. I have been there. You have to learn a lot of skills like marketing, promotion, fundraising, all of which takes away energy and time from your creativity – or you need funds to hire proper skilled people to do it for you and funding is hard.
JS: How does the kind of work you do in the art change you as a person and as a creator?
AM: Creativity helped me to learn about myself, many aspects of my soul I was not even aware of. I also learn a lot from other artists when we perform a piece, and by exchanging ideas and sharing thoughts and artistic exchanges I learn something new every day. It is a never-ending learning process. I am learning how to let go of being a perfectionist, and accepting the resources are in reach and using them the best way I can.
JS: What kind of audience does your work in the arts interest? What new audience are you also seeking? Why to both questions?
AM: I normally do not think about choosing a certain type of audience, as I like to make soul connection and pass on the meanings, unless the work is targeting a certain age, for example, a musical for kids age 4-7. Many audiences like to listen to vocal works that are pronounced correct in terms of language and sometimes this brings difficulty to my work. For example, we do not have so many Iranian opera singers who can sing Farsi.
I am hoping to attract audience from all backgrounds, people who are open to try new experiments, hear new stories, and give honest feedback.
JS: What are the most important parts of yourself that you put into your work in the arts?
AM: My integrity, my honesty and authenticity
JS: What is your biggest challenge as a creative person in the art?
AM: Limited resources and funding to showcase and share whatever I have created so far in my life. It is difficult not to lose hope and not to block my creativity because of this and keep creating.
JS: Please describe a major turning point in your life that brought you to this point as a creative person in the arts.
AM: Immigration to Canada; deciding to pursue my dreams in music.
JS: What are the hardest things for an outsider to understand about your life as a person in the arts?
AM: I don’t know what you mean! Who is an outsider?
If you mean people who are not artists, I believe what they may not understand is the amount of time, energy and effort an artist spends to create a work that they may watch in a short amount of time. For example, many years to create an opera, while audience only enjoy it for 2 hours. People active in other fields mostly see the final productions and cheer the exciting parts. What they do not know is the hard journey and sometimes the dark moments each artist has to take to get to that point.
Also, people who do not travel to see the world, or have not immigrated, have different perspective about life and are perhaps a bit more limited than those who do.
But in general, my perspective in life is different. Art has an educational value, so it can teach. I do not like to divide life and relationships by using outsider and insider. I try to work from heart, and I believe this pure energy can find its way to those it should. We are all one, we need to learn that about one another if we are interested to learn!
JS: Please tell us what you have not attempted yet that you would like to do in the arts.
1)Acting and singing in at least one operatic production, especially my own work.
2)Directing at least one of my own operas.
JS: If you could re-live your life in the arts, how would you change it?
AM: Nothing really. But perhaps the only thing I would change is that I could sing more and could put my shyness and fears away much earlier so I could do many more artistic activities including singing and performance on the stage. Also, I am very much into creating and not very skilled in presenting myself as well as I should, especially the way social media works these days.
JS: Let’s talk about the state of the arts in today’s culture, including forms in which you work. What specifically gives you hope and what specifically do you find depressing?
AM: The openness of minds gives me hope. The openness to try variety, new ideas, and moving on. What is depressing is creating divisions and borders to marginalize people.
The most super depressing thing for me is lack of communication and being stubborn in staying in a close-minded state and not open to try new things at least once and then deciding. How can we know if we like something before we try it?
Another thing so depressing is when humans are dividing themselves based on gender, race, age, wealth, etc. to give priority to themselves. Priority must be given to authenticity and integrity not anything else. Calling one group white, the other group minority, underserved, …. it’s super depressing. Art is created from a place where none of these matter.
JS: What exactly has the impact of the Covid pandemic been on your creative work and your life in the arts?
AM: I was actually very lucky as I could do a lot of work during the pandemic.
In March 2021, I could workshop and film one of my Farsi operas in collaboration with Loose Tea Music Theatre and Kingstone Watershed festival.
In Spring 2021, I could create my first digital online opera “AITCH ARR”in collaboration with Queen’s University School of Music and Drama, and librettist Donna- Michelle St Bernard. It was a comic opera, performed at different times with different groups in different online settings. (You can still watch it online on YouTube)
In Summer 2021 I started working with De Jeniffer Wise and Liza Balkan on a new opera called Refugee.
In Fall 2021, I started developing another opera called Hypatia with libretto by Alan Olejniczak.
During 2021, I also collaborated with Seattle opera as a composer, worked with 11 different writers and created music for 11 different operatic scenes.
In Winter 2022 I composed my orchestral prelude for the 100 anniversaries of Toronto Symphony Orchestra titled “Mithra”, about the goddess of love. It was premiered May 2022 in Roy Thomson Hall and I could attend the performance in person!
I started the first phase of recording of my first vocal album in collaboration with Thin Edge Music Collective, while working on preparation of the score of my Farsi Opera Zuleykha for Toronto Summer Music Festival and Loose Tea Theatre. I am also working with Fresh Squeeze Opera to develop an Aria for my new opera Hypatia.
JS: How has the pandemic changed you as a person?
AM: I now value the human relationships and how much we need in-person meetings and gatherings to exchange our energy.
JS: What is next in the coming years of your life in the arts?
AM: Hopefully, the 4 operas I have in my hand, acting and singing in at least one of them and gaining experience in how to direct an opera.