Saariaho: Vers toi qui es si loin

Description

Kaija Saariaho's first opera, L'amour de loin, was premiered in Salzburg in August 2000 and the same production was given at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris inNovember/December 2001, and in Santa Fe, summer 2002.The libretto has been written by French-Lebanese author Amin Maalouf. Since 1976, Maalouf has been living in France, where he was editor of the "Jeune Afrique" magazine, travelling as a journalist to around sixty countries. in 1983, he began to be known as an author, with the success of novels such as Léon l'Africain and Samarkand. His book Le Rocher de Tanios from 1993 was awarded the Prix Goncourt.The story of the opera L'amour de loin is based on "La Vida breve" of Jaufre Rudel, Prince of Blaye, one of the first great troubadours of the 12th century. His glowing passion for a woman from the East of whom he has only heard is the central theme of the libretto.