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IN Series Celebrates Launch of INVISION with Historic Iranian-American Musical CollaborationWASHINGTON, July 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- DC-based opera company IN Series cut the virtual ribbon yesterday on INVISION, its first-of-its-kind digital performing arts center. Featuring several distinct venues, the dynamic website is designed to house the company's first fully digital opera season. IN Series marked the occasion of this pioneering launch with a multicast digital ribbon cutting ceremony, culminating in the premiere of a historic collaboration between IN Series and the Tehran Symphony Orchestra (under the patronage of the Roudaki Foundation). The video features seven DC-area opera singers and nineteen instrumentalists from the Tehran Symphony performing in English translation and layered with text by the famed Sufi poet Rumi, the work takes on deep significance as musicians from opposite sides of the world unite in concert digitally in spite of COVID-19 restrictions and strained relations between their countries to perform a chorus celebrating "faith, hope, joy, laughter, and love." IN Series Artistic Director Timothy Nelson enthusiastically embraced the collaboration saying "If we have to make virtual work," he said, "let us use this as an opportunity to make the sort of collaborative creative experiences that would not only be otherwise inconceivable, but which really do what only art can do: make the impossible possible." This project was initiated by Fatemeh Keshavarz, chair of Roshan Institute for Persian Studies at University of Maryland, College Park, who approached IN Series with the request issued from the North American Iranian Friendship Association. "The musicians on both sides are tremendously excited about helping us transcend the toxic threats of war and sanctions, rise above politics, and acknowledge each other's art and humanity," Keshavarz observed. "This is particularly needed at a time like this when the world is in the grips of a ferocious pandemic. It is a time to see each other's humanity and help each other heal. Nothing can do this better than art." The video of this historic collaboration is available to view globally at no cos on IN Series' INvision: OPERAhouse Without Walls. Link directly to the video within INVISION's Education Annex at https://invision.inseries.org/full-feature/the-tale-of-serse-a-collaboration-with-the-tehran-symphony ABOUT ROSHAN INSTITUTE FOR PERSIAN STUDIES Roshan Institute for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland aspires to be the premier center for the learning, understanding, and appreciation of Persian culture in the United States. Toward this end, Roshan Institute seeks to provide outstanding course offerings and programs in Persian language, literature, history, and culture; to foster communication and community ties among people of Persian heritage and those interested in Persian studies; and to serve as a model for encouraging intercultural communication among peoples of varying backgrounds. ABOUT THE ROUDAKI FOUNDATION The Roudaki Foundation is a public, non-governmental, cultural foundation tasked with supervising the Tehran Symphony Orchestra and Iran's National Orchestra. ABOUT THE NORTH AMERICAN IRANIAN FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION Founded by Vahid Abideh, the North American Iranian Friendship Society is dedicated to building relationships between Iranians and Americans through cultural exchange. ABOUT IN SERIES IN Series is the standard-bearer for innovative opera theater in Washington DC. Working with local artists and diverse communities worldwide to create novel works grounded in opera and song, we challenge and reimagine these forms, folding in an expanding range of aesthetic and cultural traditions. IN Series: Opera that speaks. Theater that sings. www.inseries.org Facebook: @INSeriesDC Twitter: @INSeriesDC Instagram: @inseriesopera
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