Miller:Calloway:Mack:Bouvier - Fairouz: Sumeidas Song

Mohammed Fairouz is an Arab-American composer from New York, who has written numerous orchestral and operatic works that straddle Eastern and Western influences.Sumeida's Song, is Mohammed Fairouz's first opera, completed when the brilliant Arab-American composer was 22 years old. The opera is based on Tawfiq al-Hakim's play Song of Death, a classic in Arab theatre. Sumeida's Song follows the return of Alwan, a young man from Cairo to his village in Upper Egypt. He defies his family's expectations that he will fulfil an age-old blood feud. Instead, he reveals that the true purpose of his return is to end the violence, and bring light and enlightenment to his village. Mohammed Fairouz was recently part of BBC World's Collaboration Culture project.