Michael Schell interviews composer Sheila Silver about the premiere production of her opera A Thousand Splendid Suns. We discuss Sheila's early influences and her much more recent interest in North Indian classical music, and how they informed her treatment of Khaled Hosseini’s daunting novel about two generations of beleaguered but resilient Afghan women. We illustrate Sheila's comments with excerpts from A Thousand Splendid Suns (provided by Seattle Opera) and her Piano Concerto (performed by Alexander Paley).
Excerpted from Flotation Device, March 5, 2023, KBCS-FM Bellevue/Seattle/Tacoma. Visit tinyurl.com/FD00089 to hear the entire program, including complete musical selections.
Flotation Device showcases creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world, live Sunday nights, 10pm to Midnight Pacific Time on 91.3 KBCS HD1, and then in podcast format at www.mixcloud.com/FlotationDevice. Find us on Facebook and Instagram by Googling "Flotation Device KBCS".
Interview © 2023 Michael Schell