Rihab Chaieb is currently lighting up the stage in Los Angeles as Carmen but she took some time out from her schedule today to talk to me about her upcoming Koerner Hall recital with pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz which will be on the afternoon of November 15th.
It’s a programme firmly rooted in Rihab’s Tunisian/Toureg ancestry/background but with a couple of twists. The first half explores the French tradition of writing song cycles on oriental or North African themes while avoiding the obvious and frequently heard examplars. It includes Saint-Saëns’ Désirs d’orient and a selection from his Mélodies persanes. Even rarer, and perhaps more interesting, are Louis Auber’s Six poèmes arabes which were written during WW1 and set texts by Mme Jourdan-Nauroy who also sang them at the premiere. Rihab said these texts feel authentic to her as a woman of North African background rather than feeling like a French man’s imagined idea of such a woman. Also, she said they are musically gorgeous… “like Strauss on steroids”.
Next we will get to hear the world premiere of Nomad(e); music by Matthew Ricketts, words by Royce Vavrek. The idea for this came up during a COVID era conversation between Royce and Rihab and evolved into a cycle of songs based on “what it is to be a nomad”, reflecting Rihab’s ancestry. She described it as a sort of mini Winterreise but with text in English with some French and Arabic. I’m a great admirer of Royce’s work; especially his collaborations with Missy Mazzoli, and while I’m less familiar with Matthew’s music what I have heard is really interesting and inventive. This should be pretty exciting.
There will also be three songs from Osvaldo Golijov’s Ayre arranged by him for voice and piano, including one of my favourites; Kun li-guitari wataran ayyuha al-maa’ (Be a string, water, to my guitar) which is a setting of a text by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. Ayre is a terrific piece of music. I saw it (as did Rihab) in its original form with chamber ensemble at the Aga Khan Museum ten years ago and was blown away. There are also a couple of folk influenced Tunisian songs to finish off.
If you are not familiar with Rihab Chaieb (or maybe haven’t heard her since her Ensemble Studio days) you may want to check her out. She’s currently lighting up some of the world’s biggest opera stages; Zurich, Atlanta, LA, Glyndebourne, Madrid, the Met in roles such as the title role in Carmen and Delila in the Saint Saëns opera. She also made a fantastic recording as Penelope in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria.. Her voice is richer and smokier than in her YAP days and she’s now a mature (if still young) singer and actor. I’m looking forward to the show!
