L: Pianist Steven Philcox; R: soprano Elizabeth Polese (Photos courtesy of the artists)

The Canadian Art Song Project has commissioned a song cycle by Toronto composer Pouya Hamidi. The song cycle, titled I Will Greet the Sun Again, will make its premiere at Toronto Summer Music on August 1.

I Will Greet the Sun Again uses the poetry of four women writers from Iran and the Iranian diaspora to explore far reaching themes like family, intimate love, and the night itself. The journey begins in darkness, but ends in light.

Pianist Steven Philcox and soprano Elizabeth Polese bring the work to life.

Toronto composer Pouya Hamidi (Photo courtesy of the artist)

Pouya Hamidi, composer

Pouya Hamidi is the resident composer and pianist of the Ladom Ensemble, which he co-founded wth fellow University of Toronto music students back in 2007. The ensemble has become known in the city for their inventive original music and performances that blend Persian and Western influences, including Jewish and Argentinian music, Serbian folk, and even progressive rock.

Hamidi is a native of Tehran, Iran, and came to Canada on his own at the age of 12, not speaking English. He studied piano and composition, and eventually became a student at the Royal Conservatory’s Taylor Academy. Pouya studied composition and piano as a double major at the University of Toronto, and obtained a Masters of Sound Recording from McGill University in Montreal.

He’s explored multiple genres and modes of music, and has performed in a number of different ensembles, including a 12-member prog-rock band.

Hamidi incorporates melodic and rhythmic elements gleaned from his studies of traditional Iranian music to inform the new song cycle. As a composer, other influences include the vocal music of Olivier Messiaen, György Ligeti, and Maurice Ravel.

The Poets

Poetry is incorporated into the work as a means of giving voice to Iranian women writers, who tend to be underrepresented in most considerations of world literature. Their work speaks to universal themes of endurance and strength in the face of struggles, along with hope.

Sareh Farmand

Born in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution, Sareh Farmand moved to Vancouver, BC with her family. Pistachios in My Pocket, her first published collection of poetry, was published in 2022, and revolves around her family’s escape from Iran, and their early experiences in Canada. The work was longlisted for the Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry. She earned degrees in International Relations and Education from the University of British Columbia, and is a graduate of Simon Fraser University’s The Writing Studio. Sarah has worked extensively as a freelance writer and screenwriter.

Mehri Yalfani

Born in Hamadan, Iran, Mehri Yalfani studied electrical engineering at the Tehran University, and worked as a professional engineer for two decades. She had begun writing, however, in her teens, and published her first collection of poetry as early as 1966. It would be more than a decade before she’d publish another, and in the mean time, she raised three children, and emigrated to France, then to Canada. She publishes both fiction and poetry in English and Persian, including Tahmineh’s Silence, which was banned by the Iranian government. She has published extensively in Canada, and her works are often used in post-secondary courses.

Forugh Farrokhzad

Forugh Farrokhzad (1935–1967) was an Iranian poet and filmmaker with a trailblazing spirit, noted for her modern approach to Persian poetry. She explored many controversial and challenging themes, including the independence of women, sensuality, and spoke about the lives of women in an era when the vast majority of her contemporaries were men. She has become an enduring influence throughout Iranian literature.

Sholeh Wolpé

Poet, playwright, literary translator, and librettist Sholeh Wolpé was born in Iran, and moved first to Trinidad, then England as a teenager. She eventually settled in the US, and now lives in Spain and California. She has written and published several collections of poetry and plays, five books of translations and three anthologies, along with the texts and librettos for choir and opera. She has won awards for her translations of Iranian poetry, including that of 12th century Sufi mystic poet Attar, and modern poet Forugh Farrokhzad. Wolpé is currently a writer-in-residence at the University of California, Irvine.

The poems used include:

‘Khaleh Parvin (Mamaly)’ — From Pistachios in My Pocket by Sareh Farmand. Published by At Bay Press. Used with per-mission.
‘The Shadows’ — From Parastoo: Stories and Poems by Mehri Yalfani. Used with permission.
‘The Wind Will Blow Us Away’ and ‘I Will Greet the Sun Again’ — From Poems from Sin — Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad, translated by poet Sholeh Wolpé

The Concert

The concert on August 1 also includes Mendelssohn’s String Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20, performed by the week’s mentors at TSM, and another world premiere, that of Robert Rival’s String Quartet No. 2.

Robert Rival grew up in Ottawa, and earned an MMus in composition and theory from the University of Ottawa. He went on to complete his doctorate in composition at the University of Toronto. He also earned an MFA in musical theatre composition from New York University.

He was the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra’s Resident Composer from 2011-2014. His music is inspired by the Canadian landscape, along with literature. His music is characterized by a contemporary extended tonal style, and has been performed by orchestras and ensembles across Canada, Europe, and in Australia. Rival’s music has also been broadcast on CBC radio and NPR.

Other performers include: Aaron Schwebel, violin; Barry Shiffman, violin; Shane Kim, violin; Yura Lee, violin; Keith Hamm, viola; ; Sharon Wei, viola; Leana Rutt, cello; Song Hee Lee, cello.

Find concert details and tickets [HERE].

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Anya Wassenberg

Anya Wassenberg is the Toronto City Editor at Ludwig Van. Previously, she was a freelance writer with a specialty in culture and travel for three decades, and a creative writing instructor for Ontariolearn.