Libretto after the novel  Las virtudes del pájaro solitario by Juan Goytisolo, poems by San Juan de la Cruz, Rumi, Attar (Kolloquium der Vögel), Das Hohelied (Übersetzung ins Altkastilianische von Fray Luis de León) and by  Leonardo Da Vinci (Sul volo degli uccelli) freely complied by the composer.

Duration: ca. 120 Minutes (without pause)

Characters:
Amado/The Lover (Baritone) Amada/The Beloved (Soprano) El/La Seminarista (Counter Tenor) Profesor de árabe/Teacher (Baritone) Don Blas (actor/speaker) Doña Urraca (Soprano) Joven Señor Mayor (Bass Baritone) Ben Sida (Arabian voice) El/La Archimandrita (Tenor) La Doña (Mezzosoprano)   La Muerte (actress) El pájaro solitario (dancer)
Choir (60 voices)
Orchester: 3(picc.B-fl).3(cor angl).3(B-clar).sax.3(dble bsn). 4.3(trp.picc).4.1. perc(4) hp str: 14.12.10.8.6.
Stage music (from the far): 3 viole da gamba (Consort), 1 Ud (Arabian lute)

El viaje a Simorgh (The Way to Simorgh) is based on a Sufi tale by Attar (Persia, 12th century). It is the journey or search for Simorgh, a bird king. The journey ends when 30 birds have reached their goal (Simorgh). They then realize that it was an inward journey and search, since each one of them carries his own Simorgh within him. At the same time, the opera develops the theme of the search of the male beloved (Amado) for the female beloved (Amada) and his union with her a union that is envisioned as both physical and mystical. The opera thematizes the dream of distant lands, the journey and the dream of the search for God, the beloved, the bird king Simorgh and of an allencompassing love.

Press commentaries:
,El viaje a Simorgh unfolds very slowly and calmly above often sustained basses, in richly proliferating sonorities that comprise electronically produced spatial effects as well as stylistic quotes. There can be no doubt about the composer's skill and craftsmanship, or about his imaginativeness. (Peter Hagmann, Neue Zürcher Zeitung)
Sánchez-Verdú has brilliantly transposed the images evoked by Goytisolo, yet he also manages to disengage himself from them. (Hans-Günter Kellner, DeutschlandRadio)
The Teatro Real sharpens its own profile with the ambitious new production. (Eleonore Büning, FAZ)

El viaje a Simorgh was commissioned by the Teatro Real, which thus continues its successful tradition of fostering new works. The music and libretto are by one of Spain's leading composers, Algeciras-born José M. Sánchez-Verdù. The stage production is the work of the high-profile visual artist Frederic Amat, and the libretto is based on the novella Las virtudes del pájaro solitario by Juan Goytisolo, as well as on poems and texts by San Juan de la Cruz, Ibn al Farid, Fariduddin al-Attar, El cantar de los cantares (translated by Fray Luis de Leòn) and Leonardo da Vinci.

In the words of the composer, El viaje a Simorgh (The Way to Simorgh) is based on a Sufi tale by Attar (Persia, 12th century). It is the journey or search for Simorgh, a bird king. The journey ends when 30 birds have reached their goal (Simorgh). They then realize that it was an inward journey and search, since each one of them carries his own Simorgh within him. At the same time, the opera develops the theme of the search of the male beloved (Amado) for the female beloved (Amada) and his union with her a union that is envisioned as both physical and mystical. The opera thematizes the "dream of distant lands," the journey and the dream of the search for God, the beloved, the bird king Simorgh and of an all-encompassing love.


Bibliography:

Sánchez-Verdú, José M.: Lo peor que puede hacer un compositor es quedarse encerrado. Der Komponist im Gespräch mit Juan Antonio Llorente, in: Doce Notas, Heft 56 (April/Mai 2007), pp. 8-11.