He noted the composer's 'command of organized noise'. Reception Ĭharles Michener of The Observer noted that reading the libretto was enjoyable, but found the music too 'earthbound', although with adequate clean and forceful lines for the singers. In a fantastic journey, Haroun helps his father to regain his potential. The main characters are Haroun, a boy, and his father, the storyteller Rashid, who lost his ability to tell stories after his wife left him, and the villains Khattam-shud and Snooty Buttoo who want to terminate storytelling because they want to rule the world, and are powerless against stories. Sengupta, and then Princess, and later Princess Batcheatīutt, the Bus-driver, and later the mechanical Hoopoe Sengupta, a measlyweasly clerk, and later Khattam-Shud, the prince of silence The Boston Modern Orchestra Project produced a concert version of the opera, but with costumes and projections, in 2019. The libretto appeared as part of a collection of Fenton's librettos, The Love Bomb and Other Musical Pieces by Faber and Faber in 2003. The opera was published by Edition Peters. Heather Buck appeared in the title role, and Peter Strummer as Rashid. The complete opera was premiered on October 31, 2004, at the New York City Opera, directed by Mark Lamos, and conducted by George Manahan, with stage design by Riccardo Hernandez. The world premiere was planned for 2001, but was postponed after the September 11 attacks. Įxcerpts from the opera were performed at the New York Cooper Union on May 2, 2000, by the New York City Opera. Wuorinen composed the opera in two acts, including musical quotes and 'musical puns', to emphasize Rushdie's wordplay. He created a number opera, reducing the characters and adding to its political meaning. Fenton had translated Verdi librettos for the English National Opera, but Haroun was his first libretto. He found James Fenton to write him a libretto. Charles Wuorinen was attracted by both the plot, and the circumstances of the story's writing, admiring the absence of self-pity. It was Rushdie's first book after he had to hide because of a fatwa call for his death. Salman Rushdie wrote Haroun and the Sea of Stories as a short novel for his son Zafar, then aged eleven. It was premiered at the New York City Opera in 2004.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories is an opera in two acts by American composer Charles Wuorinen, based on the children's novel of the same name by Salman Rushdie, with a libretto by James Fenton.

Haroun and the sea