Mina Salehpour and Writing Strong Women

Iranian-German director and librettist, Mina Salehpour, is in the midst of her second opera with composer, Daniel Reza Sabzghabaei.  He’s just received an IDEA Grant from Opera America to help them finish the piece, tentatively titled “The Three Shapes Opera.”  Mina and Keturah speak about this, their first creative work together, and her thoughts on libretto writing as a director who specializes in devised work.

Before that, however, Keturah shares interviews with two formidable sopranos, Alexandra Loutsion and Alexandra Lo Bianco, both dissecting the strong female characters in Puccini operas.  For Lo Bianco, they discuss the end of Turandot, and for Loutsion, they talk about the meaning within “Vissi D’Arte” from Tosca.

Mina Salehpour, Daniel Reza Sabzghabaei, Yashar Saghai: https://www.operaamerica.org/get-involved/about-us/press-room/2019/opera-america-awards-first-ever-idea-opera-grants-for-composers-and-librettists-of-color/

Alexandra LoBianco: https://imgartists.com/roster/alexandra-lobianco/

Alexandra Loutsion: https://www.alexandraloutsion.com/