{"id":122625,"date":"2026-03-16T16:12:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T20:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=122625"},"modified":"2026-03-17T08:00:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T12:00:02","slug":"interview-composer-ana-sokolovic-director-michael-hidetoshi-mori-talk-love-songs-tapestry-opera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2026\/03\/16\/interview-composer-ana-sokolovic-director-michael-hidetoshi-mori-talk-love-songs-tapestry-opera\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Composer Ana Sokolovi\u0107 &amp; Director Michael Hidetoshi Mori Talk About Love Songs At Tapestry Opera"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_122627\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-122627\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-122627\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2026-03-16T160400.060.jpg\" alt=\"L: Composer Ana Sokolovic (Photo: Raoul Manuel Schnell); R: Director Michael Mori on the set of Tapestry Opera\u2019s\u00a0Rocking Horse Winner (Photo: Dahlia Katz)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2026-03-16T160400.060.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2026-03-16T160400.060-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2026-03-16T160400.060-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2026-03-16T160400.060-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-122627\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">L: Composer Ana Sokolovic (Photo: Raoul Manuel Schnell); R: Director Michael Mori on the set of Tapestry Opera\u2019s\u00a0Rocking Horse Winner (Photo: Dahlia Katz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Tapestry Opera will present Ana Sokolovi\u0107\u2019s Love Songs, a theatrical adaptation of the composer\u2019s song cycle, in a co-presentation with New Music Concerts. The event takes place from March 26 to 29, featuring soprano Xin Wang and dancer Rumi Jeraj, with Michael Hidetoshi Mori, who created the adaptation, directing.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s one of the first major works that has been staged at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/03\/18\/scoop-torontos-new-arts-venue-nancy-ed-jackman-performance-centre-open-877-yonge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nancy &amp; Ed Jackman Performance Centre<\/a>, which opened about one year ago.<\/p>\n<h3>Ana Sokolovi\u0107\u2019s Love Songs<\/h3>\n<p>The production revolves around a woman (Xin Wang) who\u2019s desperately trying to come to terms with the loss of her love, portrayed by tap dancer Rumi Jeraj. The woman creates a ritual made up of language and memories, attempting \u2014 as did Orpheus of Greek legend \u2014 to bring him back to life.<\/p>\n<p>From the Composer&#8217;s Notes to the score:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLove has always been and always will be an inexhaustible inspiration for human creativity. Love follows us everywhere; love is the cause and the result. Love evokes the strongest human emotions: love has led people to wars, but it has also inspired the most beautiful poems. All the languages sing about love the same way. Every happiness, worry, sadness and tenderness is similar to another.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLove Songs is an intimate story about love in five \u201cthematic\u201d movements: pure love, tender love, children\u2019s love, mature love and love for a person who has been lost. The lyrics are sung in five languages: English, French, Serbian, Irish and Latin. There are interludes between the movements in which the phrase \u201cI Love You\u201d is delivered in 100 different languages. While the movements are lyrical, the interludes are more rhythmic, inspired by the colours of these 100 languages, with the singer using various unconventional vocal techniques.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The text draws from poems by Michael Hartnett, Paul \u00c9luard, \u00c9mile Nelligan, Vasko Popa, Miroslav Antic, Laza Kostic, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Shakespeare, Catullus, Walt Whitman and Amarusataka.<\/p>\n<p>Rumi Jeraj\u2019s choreography follows the words sung in five languages by Wang. \u201cI love you\u201d is repeated, in different ways, more than 100 times.<\/p>\n<p>It premiered at the Canadian Opera Company\u2019s Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre in 2008, and has been presented in various forms since then. In 2020, a pandemic-era video adaptation, also by Michael Mori and Tapestry Opera, used a version of the work with saxophone accompaniment.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-KTK2yTnPpM?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>Mori\u2019s new adaptation of the original work creates a fully staged opera with dance from what was initially a song cycle.<\/p>\n<p>LV caught up with <strong>Ana Sokolovi\u0107<\/strong> and Tapestry Opera\u2019s <strong>Michael Hidetoshi Mori<\/strong> to talk about the production.<\/p>\n<h2>Ana Sokolovi\u0107: The Interview<\/h2>\n<p>Ana Sokolovi\u0107 initially composed Love Songs as an art song cycle, taking text from diverse international sources, and expressing many facets of the emotion we call love. That first iteration was presented as a work for solo voice, with mezzo-soprano Lauren Phillips.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a commission from The Queen of Puddings Music Theatre in Toronto,\u201d Sokolovi\u0107 explains of the piece\u2019s origins. \u201cI wrote originally for mezzo soprano,\u201d she says. As she notes, without accompaniment, it\u2019s a work that could easily be transposed to another voice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t have any male [performers] for the whole opera.\u201d That\u2019s an aspect that has changed over the years. \u201cIn Aix-en-Provence [France], they did a [version] for eight performers. Some were male,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLater on, I had an idea from many sources to maybe write a version for saxophone.\u201d An updated version added saxophone, as well as the interludes between songs. \u201cSo the singer could rest a little bit,\u201d Ana says.<\/p>\n<p>The piece demands a virtuosic performance from the vocalist. \u201cIt is [virtuosic],\u201d Sokolovi\u0107 agrees. \u201cIt was probably the limit that I could do.\u201d As she points out, with a work that takes some 50 minutes or so, she could be a little more demanding of the singer.<\/p>\n<h3>Poetry: The Text<\/h3>\n<p>Love as a theme wasn\u2019t necessarily part of the commission. \u201cActually I had a carte blanche,\u201d Ana explains. She was simply asked to put together a proposal for the commission. \u201cI was thinking that the most clich\u00e9d but the most present piece in art is love,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, it\u2019s one of the more mysterious of human emotions. \u201cYou cannot explain what is really love,\u201d she says, \u201cthere is always part of mystery in it which we cannot explain, but we can feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Taking into account all of the ways we can experience love, she had to narrow the focus. \u201cIt could be enough for several operas,\u201d she laughs. \u201cI decided to put it in five categories.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Narrowing down the texts she wanted to incorporate was the next challenge.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did really huge research. I read poetry in many, many languages,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was really a huge work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After boiling her list down to about 30 or 40 poems she considered pursuing, she began to compose. Some worked out better than others. \u201cI like poetry, but [some] were not poetry which is easy to put into music.There is some amazing and beautiful love songs which I could just not put into music.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As she explains it, suitable poems had to be open to the point where the music could tell part of the story. \u201c[If] all music is in the words, and all intention is in the words, then my music is not adding anything more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At times, she left a few pieces, such as How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in the piece, but as a recitative segment that the vocalist speaks.<\/p>\n<p>The piece is often notes for its unconventional vocal techniques in program descriptions. \u201cOf course, when we say these things \u2014 unconventional 40 years ago, 50 years ago, it is not the same now,\u201d Ana points out. \u201cAnything that the human voice can offer is available.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That includes tongue clucking, whispering, screams and cries, and onomatopoeic treatments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe text is asking for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The part that describes love between children, the love of young people for each other, for example, calls for a certain sensibility. \u201cThere are some witty sounds and rhythms. Kind of hide and seek,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen it&#8217;s playful, we can allow ourselves to do some what [of] we call unconventional sounds.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>The 2026 Adaptation<\/h3>\n<p>She\u2019s excited for the latest version with vocalist and dancer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m so excited to see another presentation of the piece. Another vision of the piece,\u201d Sokolovi\u0107 says. \u201cI think that when we have the premiere, the piece has to be how it is at that moment in our head,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt&#8217;s just beautiful to see how a vision of the same piece could change, even for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been a while since it premiered, after all. \u201cIt&#8217;s almost 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the new dimensions added to the work, Sokolovi\u0107 is happy that Xin Wang will be reprising the role she performed back in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m thrilled to work with Xin again, and with Michael. I worked with Xin several times. She was singing my first opera,\u201d Ana says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe has fantastic expression, technique. She has a thousand expressions,\u201d she says. \u201cI cannot wait to hear her.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_122628\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-122628\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-122628\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2026-03-16T160933.200.jpg\" alt=\"L: Soprano Xin Wang (Photo: Bo Huang); Dancer Rumi Jeraj (Photo: Drew Berry)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2026-03-16T160933.200.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2026-03-16T160933.200-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2026-03-16T160933.200-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2026-03-16T160933.200-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-122628\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">L: Soprano Xin Wang (Photo: Bo Huang); Dancer Rumi Jeraj (Photo: Drew Berry)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Michael Hidetoshi Mori: The Interview<\/h2>\n<p>What made Mori decide to come back to the work Tapestry staged some six years ago?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love Ana&#8217;s voice. She&#8217;s got a very distinct voice. There\u2019s something about the tactility of language that&#8217;s always very interesting,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of composers sometimes compromise in order to sound maybe more cinematic,\u201d Mori adds. Sokolovi\u0107 resists the pull of trying to be part of the musical landscape, choosing instead to strike out in her own directions.<\/p>\n<p>He explains that he saw the possibilities in her work at first listen. \u201cMy problem is I always see a story everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As he points out, the original art song cycle didn\u2019t actually incorporate a narrative per se. It was simply an examination of various forms of love in the form of song. But, he saw other possibilities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis could be a really powerful story about something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 2020 pandemic filmed version that Tapestry produced incorporated a saxophonist, but this new adaptation goes back to the original. \u201cThe saxophone was really interesting, but the saxophone player wasn&#8217;t really a [character],\u201d he points out.<\/p>\n<p>With a tap dancer, there is inherent musical accompaniment, along with a character in his story. \u201cEssentially tap dancers are percussionists,\u201d Michael says. \u201cThere&#8217;s more of a dialogue. \u201c<\/p>\n<p>He notes that Sokolovi\u0107\u2019s composition is already percussive by nature. That quality of the music is echoed in the ways that the dancer works with the vocalist.<\/p>\n<h3>Love As A Theme<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cWe all get to experience the journey of love through the course of our entire life,\u201d Mori says. \u201cThat&#8217;s what I found so fascinating. All of those kinds of love can be encompassed within one life story.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He chose to imbue the woman at the centre of the opera with the elements of an Orphean journey. \u201cI refuse to accept that my partner has died.\u201d Memories of a love lost open up the possibility of exploring the emotion in various forms. It\u2019s her search to reclaim what she\u2019s lost. \u201cShe&#8217;s channeling all of these love stories from all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also, ultimately, a journey of acceptance, as she realizes that a state of denial is not the way to honour the depth of her feelings for the one she\u2019s lost.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTruly loving Eurydice means having to let Eurydice go,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n<p>The object of her love, the dancer in the upcoming production, is an artist, which adds another element to the story. \u201cI&#8217;ve known many people who&#8217;ve fallen in love with artists as they perform,\u201d Mori says.<\/p>\n<p>Her attempts to evoke him via memory develops into a ritual. \u201cThis was inspired by Ana. There&#8217;s a recurring symbol of the dove in the story,\u201d he says. The interludes play into the concept. \u201cThis sounds like an invocation, because there&#8217;s all these languages that you don\u2019t understand, but it sounds really intentional,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe borrows from different rituals that she thinks will be powerful \u2014 and thinks it can help her tap into the afterlife. She&#8217;s making her own ritual to bring him back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Does it succeed? Is it all a dream? That becomes the question.<\/p>\n<h3>Filmed vs Live Performance<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cThe 2020 [version] was made for film,\u201d Mori points out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m thinking of this for us, for Xin, the vocalist, and for Ana, to fully realize this for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Live performance plays a vital role in this world where social media\u2019s algorithms are constantly pushing listeners and viewers towards sameness and a homologous, mass produced vision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it&#8217;s really important to focus on [&#8230;] to invest in unique voices,\u201d he says. \u201cAll I get when I put music on Spotify or Apple music, is someone\u2019s [&#8230;] very generic idea of what classical music is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It ignores the truly diverse voices that make up the actual world of contemporary music. Ana Sokolovi\u0107\u2019s Love Songs is one of them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou will definitely not say that you&#8217;ve seen something like this before,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo one is writing like this in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Experiencing the work in a small space like the Nancy &amp; Ed Jackman Performance Centre is part of the appeal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s going to be intimate,\u201d he says. \u201cYou&#8217;re going to be able to feel the honest power of the artists because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Find tickets and show details for Tapestry Opera\u2019s Ana Sokolovi\u0107\u2019s Love Songs [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/tapestryopera.com\/performances\/ana-sokolovics-love-songs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a><\/strong>].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Are you looking to promote an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/advertising\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0e101a\"><u>event<\/u><\/span><\/a>? 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