New Australian Opera: Panbe Zan and The Visitors

Iranian composer and pianist Shervin Mirzeinali’s opera Panbe Zan recreates the process of preparing cotton to be turned into cloth, featuring traditional Persian music interleaved with the rhythms and timbres of the Panbe Zani’s ritual. He’s also set to open the inaugural Iranian Music Festival in Sydney, and brings in the co-founder and setar player Ehsan Kachooei to demonstrate some of the music the audience will get to hear at the Festival. Christopher Sainsbury’s new opera The Visitors is the latest in a series of interpretations of Jane Harrison’s play of the same name. Christopher tells Andy how the score is inspired not only by the play text but by the sound world of Eora and Dharug Country, from the echoes of sandstone gullies to the song of the butcherbird.