ID, Please

Music by Soosan Lolavar
Libretto by Daniel Hirsch
TÊTE À TÊTE New Opera Festival, London
July 25, 2017

ID, Please is an opera for the age of Brexit and Trump, set at border control and exploring themes of immigration, identity and xenophobia. The work took on new relevance when Soosan Lolavar, its British-Iranian composer, was almost prevented from attending rehearsals in the US as part of the first ‘Muslim Ban’.

Press

"With the aid of Jessica Medenbach's video projection and Stephen M Eckert's succinct staging, ID, Please proved powerful moving, even amusing. Lolavar's music, both vocal and orchestral, found the right blend of menace and compassion, and the three singers were exemplary. A future classic? You just never know.
-The Evening Standard

“Though some of these encounters are wittily handled, all are fraught with confrontation. There is a lugubrious inevitability about the score, which unfolds from an imaginatively handled fantasy on one note. All three singers excelled themselves, especially Robert Raso, whose portrayal of the guard was both unnerving and sympathetic—one moment the angry protagonist, the next just another innocent caught in the system."
-Composition Today

Collaborators
Conductor Daniel Nesta Curtis
Costume Design by Nina Bova
Scenic Design by Caitlin Ayer
Media Design by Jessica Medenbach

Featuring
Patrick Dailey as Male Traveler
Shannyn Rinker as Female Travelor
 Robert Raso as Border Guard

Chroma Ensemble
Flute – SaRah O’Flynn
Oboe – Katie Bennington
Clarinet in Bb (doubling bass clarinet) – Max Welford
Bassoon – Jo Turner
Trumpet in Bb (doubling piccolo) – Alex Cromwell
Horn – Richard Bayliss
Trombone – Ryan Hume
Tuba – Edd Leech
Percussion – Sarah Hatch and David Merseguer Royo
Violin (leader) – Marcus Barcham-Stevens
Violin – Chihiro Ono
Viola – Bridget Carey
Cello – Clare O’Connell
Double Bass – Elena Hull
Creative Producer for CHROMA – Claire Shovelton

Photos by Claire Shovelton

Funded by Carnegie Mellon University, Arts Council England and Iran Heritage Foundation. Soosan Lolavar is supported by PRS for Music Foundation’s Women Make Music.