The music of Iranian composer Behzad Abdi fuses dastgāh (the Iranian modal system) with Western classical forms. He wrote Iran’s first national opera, Rumi (Naxos 866042425), and Hafez also exemplifies his approach to the medium. The opera’s subject is the great Persian poet and mystic Hafez, whose sonnets and poetry are still widely read across the Persian-speaking world today. Behrouz Gharibpour’s libretto traces the poet’s tribulations, memories of keeping his poems from being destroyed by a despotic government, and subsequent exile. Abdi’s polytonal technique serves to reflect the unique concepts of Hafez’s 14th-century poetry with passion, lyricism and power.

Behzad Abdi is possibly the leading Iranian composer of our time. He was nominated in the 29th Fajr Film Festival for ‘Son of the Sun’ in 2011. In 2001 he won a special prize in composition at the International Puppet Theatre festival in Poland (Bialivostok) for The Last Flower. Abdi has lived in the Ukraine for a number of years – the performance is recorded there with the forces of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, an orchestra that has recorded extensively for Naxos.

Cast:
- Hafez: Mohammad Motamedi (tenor)
- Obeid Zakani: Hossein Alishapour (tenor)
- Sultan Mobarezedin: Babak Sabouri (baritone)
- Poet / Khayyam: Eshaq Anvar (tenor)
- Mohammad Gol-andam: Mohammad Zakerhossein (tenor)
- Farmer: Ali Zandevakili (tenor)
- Shakh-e Nabat: Haleh Seyfizadeh (mezzo-soprano)