Edalat Square: Opera in One Act

Music by R. Timothy Brady

Libretto by R. Timothy Brady, A. R. Madabushi,
and Lou Rodriguez

                                                                                                                                   The Emory Wheel

Synopsis

Jalal al-Din Rumi, Fihi ma fihi (13th c. CE):

When the believer looks with the Light of God, he sees all things:
the first and the last, the present and the absent.
For how can anything be hidden from the Light of God?

Darkness and despair, disguised as piety and righteousness, descend from atop the minarets of the mosques, consuming those who seek hope through the Light of God. On July 19, 2005 in Edalat Square, Iran, Mahmoud Asgari (17) and Ayaz Marhoni (16) were hanged for the crime of lavat (sex between two men in Shari’a or Islamic Law). Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, an estimated 4,000 people have been executed for lavat. Haunted by the circumstances surrounding the execution of Mahmoud and Ayaz, the soul of Edalat Square emerges from the poetic essence of the Sufi mystics—emerging from silence and meditation, melody and prayer. Disturbed by a crisis in Islam, the soul awakens…

Forces

Edalat Square: Opera in One Act is a 45-minute music-theatre chamber work with the following cast and instrumentation:

Mahmoud Asgari [Baritone]
Ayaz Marhoni [Tenor]
Actor
Mother [R&B-Soul Vocalist]
The Qazi or Islamic Judge [Persian-Classical Vocalist]
Conductor, String Quartet, & Laptop