Fiction, Fact, Fools — And the Search for Truth and Beauty

A Double World Premiere in Partnership with Yarilo Music

Saturday, May 31, 7:30 pm 
 The Annex (823 Seymour Street, Vancouver)  
Tickets and more info: Eventbrite

Journey through truth and illusion with Astrolabe Musik Theatre’s captivating double bill featuring world premieres of two groundbreaking monodramas. In “The Greater Sea,” Iranian-Canadian composer Farshid Samandari brings Kahlil Gibran’s spiritual quest to life, blurring the lines between madness and enlightenment.

Bulgarian composer Gheorghi Arnaoudov’s “Notes of the Phantom Woman,” a haunting adaptation of Iana Boukova’s evocative poetry, unravels a baffling 16-year true-crime mystery, challenging our very perception of reality.

Vancouver’s finest musicians unite under renowned conductor Leslie Dala, featuring soprano Heather Pawsey; Jonathan Bernard and Gregory Samek (percussion); Paolo Bortolussi (flute); Jane Hayes, Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa and Anna Levy (pianos); Isidora Nojkovic (cello); and Julia Nolan (saxophone).

Born in Iran and based in Vancouver, Farshid Samandari is a musician and composer whose work reflects his interest in contemporary classical music, spectral analysis, and extended techniques. Interntionally recognised Bulgarian composer Gheorghi Arnaoudov specialises in music for theatre and film, orchestra and vocal works, chamber and piano works that draw their roots from minimalism.

Written specifically for Astrolabe, these extraordinary works examine Keats’ eternal question: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”—but in our complex world, how do we recognize either?

Don’t miss this provocative fusion of contemporary classical music, minimalism, and spectral techniques that will leave you questioning what—and who—to believe.

Saturday, May 31, 7:30 pm 
 The Annex (823 Seymour Street, Vancouver)  
Tickets and more info: Eventbrite