released March 16, 2024

Creative Team:
Fahad Siadat - Composer
Sholeh Wolpé - Librettist
Farid Ud-Din Attar - Original Story

Featured Soloists:
Anne Harley - Hoopoe
Fahad Siadat - Narrator
Amanda Achen - Soprano
Molly Pease - Mezzo-Soprano
Saunder Choi - Tenor
David Conley - Baritone
James Hayden - Bass
Paul Chwe MinChul An - Bass

Choral Ensemble:
Drew Corey (voice and shruti)
Mikaela Elson
Joslyn Sarshad
Divya Maus
Elizabeth Waller
Vera Lugo
Kion Heidari
Frank Hobbs
Michael Jones
Kirk Averitt
Scott Graff
Jacob Sidney

Fahad Siadat - Conductor

Production Credit:
Produced by The Resonance Collective
Recording Producer, Matthew Brown
Recording Engineer, David Saldaña
Mixing/Mastering, Jett Galindo

Album Supported by:
National Endowment of the Arts
First Congregational Church of Los Angeles
Kirk Averitt
Timur Bekbosunov
Gabbi Coenen
Peter Hager
Anne Dorothy Harley
Ruth LeFaive
Julie Lockhart
HJ Lowe
Michael Roth
Amelia Thompson
Anonymous

Original production sponsored by:
National Endowment of the Arts
Farhang Foundation
The Broadstage
First Congregational Church of Los Angeles
Scripps Presents
Scripps College
New Music USA
Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs
Guitty Etjamai Foundation
A Noise Within

Composer note:
One of the greatest challenges facing me in setting Attar’s 12th-century epic poem, The Conference of the Birds, was how to properly convey the depth of spiritual experience at the heart of the work. The transcendental experiences described are ineffable, beyond the capacity of rational language, which is, of course, why we have art.

Attar’s poem in the original Farsi, spans more than 4000 lines of poetry, so inevitably, we lean on a general synopsis of the narrative. It is an astonishing allegorical parable about the birds of the world searching for the great Simorgh, the sovereign of birds, illustrating the human soul’s search for truth. In this parable the birds are not heroic, strong-willed adventurers, but rather, they are filled with excuses and foibles; they are easily distracted along the way, become lost, grow weak, and many even die. Of the 100,000 birds who begin the , a measly 30 arrive at the gates of Simorgh, only to discover an incomprehensible truth.

The metaphor of this parable is relatively simple: we are the birds of this story. Not the 30 who endure, not the survivors who make their way through the seven spiritual valleys. We are those who stray along the way, make excuses, give in to discouragement, cynicism, complacency, and doubt.

The purpose of any spiritual practice, and perhaps the reason Attar created this work in the first place, is to act as a guide for us to stay on the path. Every performance is a practice in remaining open and vulnerable, authentic and real. It’s a reminder to let go of both our pride and our shame, so that we may be fully present to the work in front of us, and the needs of those with us. This piece is an offering, an act of service, an opportunity to remind ourselves of our true nature: that we are both the light and the mirror reflecting the light.

Special Thanks:
We are incredibly grateful to the artists and organizations who were part of bringing this piece to life so it could become a recording. This, of course, includes André Megerdichian who directed and choreographed the stage show, is a co-founder of the Resonance Collective, and the director of original works. Other performers include our two featured dancers from the show, Catalina Jackson-Urueña and Tippy Dringman, as well as original cast members who couldn’t be part of the recording, Ianthe Marini, Corona De Los Santos, Ariana Stultz, and Chloé Vaught.

We are also grateful to other members of the original production team, including R.S. Buck (production manager and lighting design) and Kate Poppen (costume designer).

Additional thanks to C3LA: The Contemporary Choral Collective of Los Angeles, who helped workshop the early stages of the work, Luna Zsigo for allowing us to use images from her mural Conference of the Birds in our promotion materials, and TJ Sclafani and Bradley Butterworth who stepped in to help during the recording process.

A final thanks to Dr. Anne Harley for being the catalyst for this work and for fundraising, Hilda Tourians for championing this work from the start, and to the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles who provided space for us to build, rehearse, perform, and record this piece from the very beginning of the process in 2019 through the final release in 2024. We couldn’t have asked for a better home.

And always - to my wife for supporting the birth of this piece while also bringing new life to our family, and to my mother for teaching me that the divine is found in all things.