California Opera Company To Open Opera Based On True Story Of Iranian Refugee Stranded In An Airport For 18 Years

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The true story of the plight of an Iranian refugee stranded in an airport for 18 years and the universal powers of love, loss, healing, identity and community are at the center of San Francisco-based contemporary opera company Opera Parallèle's innovative new production of English composer Jonathan Dove's 1998 cynical comedy, Flight. The opera will be given three performances February 10-12 at YBCA Theater in San Francisco. Flight chronicles a chapter in the life of a refugee stranded in an airport, unable to return home while being prevented from leaving the airport, which has a profound relevance given current political developments regarding U.S. immigration policy. For more information about Flight, visit www.operaparallele.org.

"When we first programmed Flight for this season more than a year ago, we knew the topic of international refugees was important," says Opera Parallèle Artistic Director and conductor Nicole Paiement, "but we had no idea how sharp the political focus on immigration would become so close to opening. Jonathan Dove's insightful and deeply moving work underlines the wide emotional range the subject inspires and provokes thoughts about our identities as individuals and as citizens of our home countries and the world."

Based on actual events -- the forced residence, from 1988 to 2006, of Iranian refugee Mehran Karimi Nasseri at Charles de Gaulle airport -- Flight is an ironic comedy about what it means to be stranded. The refugee, tailed by an Immigration Officer, is surrounded by a variety of colorful characters including a couple on vacation, East European diplomats, flight attendants, an enigmatic older woman and an air traffic controller. While there are many moments of humor, like all great opera, Flight is also an exploration of the many faces of love and the subject of belonging. With a first-rate cast, and the inventive stagecraft of the Opera Parallèle creative team, Flight, at once comical and deeply human, promises an operatic spectacle rich with visual perspective.

SOURCE Opera Parallele

Related Links

http://www.operaparallele.org