Sarah Sayeed on Reimagining Holst’s Savitri
Sarah Sayeed
For her new project for Leeds Opera Festival, Sarah Sayeed (composer/sound designer/musical director/writer) has created a new work which reimagines Holst’s epic opera, Savitri for 21st century audiences and society. In collaboration with writer Jaspreet Kaur, they offer a modern take on the epic Sanskrit tale, painting Savitri in an entirely new light. The work will receive its world premiere at Leeds Opera Festival this August. Ahead of this, we spoke with Sarah about her ambitions for the project, her take on Savitiri, and plans for the future.
Classical Post: This project has been the hard work of Jaspreet Kaur and yourself. When did you first meet, and how did the idea for this project come about?
Sarah Sayeed: Jaspreet and I first met in January 2021 and we instantly connected on feeling a little outside of Holst's work. This was difficult in some ways for me to reconcile as I love The Planets like so many people, but I didn't really relate to the Savitri Chamber Opera in any deep way. Jaspreet and I wanted to bring voice to her perspective and to look at the wider issue of how the lives of South Asian women are often spoken for.
CP: Holst wrote Sāvitri in 1909 when the world’s perception of the lives of Asian / Indian women was very different. What were the specific topics or issues you wanted to address with this work, and do you feel you achieve this?
SS: We wanted to explore the voice of the character. With The Planets I understood the connection between the music and the subject. With Savitri I didn't understand how the music was telling the story of the goddess. I can't wait to hear the new modern reworking of Holst's Savitri in the hope I can connect with it without just thinking it was a white male composer writing about something he has no real connection to. I hope it does reach me somehow. Jaspreet's words speak strongly of taking back power and the story of being more than a 'good wife' as Jaspreet puts it.
CP: As a composer and a librettist, how did you and Jaspreet blend your talents in order to create this reimagined version of Sāvitri?
SS: Jaspreet is a wonderful and lucid writer who has a firm and reassuring voice.
CP: What was the biggest challenge of putting this project together?
SS: Working with really taleneted musicians, you want to be in a room together with them. This hasn't been as easily possible which has been frustrating at times. But we have found ways.
CP: The work includes parts for veena and sitar. When composing, did you have particular musicians in mind for the performance?
SS: I wanted to work with three musicians in particular who I felt drawn towards and would be a perfect fit for the project. They are Clive Hunte, Freny Nina and Olivia Moore. All three are excellent musicians and great contributors in the process. I knew they would understand the sensitivity of the subject matter and would be able to interpret words and concepts in interesting ways. This has already proven to be the case in our rehearsals and of course it is important to work with people you know and trust.
CP: How has it been working with Leeds Opera Festival and South Asian Arts-UK on this project?
SS: Wonderful. It has been a very supportive and engaging process and both Leeds Opera Festival and South Asian ARTS-UK have given valuable time and space to let me get on with it.
CP: What are your hopes for this work when it is premiered at Leeds Opera Festival? What can it teach us about the lives of Asian/Indian women?
SS: I look forward to the future life of this piece. This particular work hasn't at this stage been discussed any further with Northern Opera Group but it has already garnered interest for a longer featured work for 2023 for a large London based music festival. I hope the work teaches us to all listen more and to stop associating Asian and Indian women with sometimes outdated notions of passivity and submission.
CP: Do you have plans to work with Jaspreet on more projects?
SS: I would love to work with Jaspreet again and hope the opportunity arises for this to happen. I am sure that if this work continues to develop, this will automatically happen.
CP: What can we expect next from you?
SS: I am currently sound designing for a new theatrical version of Love N Stuff by Tanika Gupta, directed by Gitika Buttoo premiering at The Oldham Coliseum in the autumn. I also have a couple of other projects being discussed in the pipeline for 2022 and 2023. I would love to rework for the modern day something from Debussy Summer Nights.
CP: Has the lockdown affected you creatively?
SS: Working remotely has continued to be a challenge as Covid rampages through our lives. But there has also been a chance to condense ideas in different ways.
CP: Which of your works as a composer are closest to your heart?
SS: A piece called Found for the Portfolio Composers commission with Sound and Music. It was a piece I wrote on the rollercoaster ride of expecting a child, and the ups and downs of motherhood. I wanted to capture that with the instruments which were marimba, harp and tabla, played by the wonderful Kuljit Bhamra who also was part of the commissioning panel. I had never composed with these instruments and I was really blown away by what they could do together.
Sarah Sayeed and Jaspreet Kaur’s new response to Savitri will premiere on Friday, August 27, 2021 at Leeds Opera Festival.
Leeds Opera Festival is produced by Northern Opera Group, which specializes in performing rare and wonderful operas in imaginative ways; enabling audiences and artists to discover new works and composers from across opera’s history.
Their film adaption of Pauline Viardot’s Cinderella (2020) won Best Opera at the Classical Music Digital Awards and was praised as catching “the wit of the piece, with a sprinkling of magic” (***** The Guardian). Other highlights include Thomas Arne’s Alfred (2017), Stephen Storace’s The Pirates (2018) and Charles Villiers Stanford’s Much Ado About Nothing (2019).
Northern Opera Group would like to thank Arts Council England, Leeds City Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund for their support.
