Uploaded March 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Join us to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year—an ancient celebration signaling the beginning of spring.
The free event features:
• Women / Immigration / Fight or Flight, a mini opera composed by Shooka Afshar that depicts the challenges faced by women who had to immigrate to another country to follow their dreams, have a normal life, and fight for their basic rights. Inspired by the true story of Afshar, who immigrated to Boston from Iran to pursue her dream of being an opera singer. This is a mixed media project with a stage act by Bahareh Safarani and virtual reality by Asma Khoshmehr and Anna Liesenfeld. Due to COVID-19 limitations, the score, instruments and singers have been reduced to a concert version.
• An artist talk from photographer Gohar Dashti on her "Home" series, which was featured in the 2020 exhibition “Reimagining Home: Photographs by Bahman Jalali and Gohar Dashti.” With an introduction from Laura Weinstein, Ananda Coomaraswamy Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art.
Nowruz is presented with support from Azi Djazani. Sponsored by Chase. Additional Programming support is provided by The Lowell Institute.
Join us to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year—an ancient celebration signaling the beginning of spring.
The free event features:
• Women / Immigration / Fight or Flight, a mini opera composed by Shooka Afshar that depicts the challenges faced by women who had to immigrate to another country to follow their dreams, have a normal life, and fight for their basic rights. Inspired by the true story of Afshar, who immigrated to Boston from Iran to pursue her dream of being an opera singer. This is a mixed media project with a stage act by Bahareh Safarani and virtual reality by Asma Khoshmehr and Anna Liesenfeld. Due to COVID-19 limitations, the score, instruments and singers have been reduced to a concert version.
• An artist talk from photographer Gohar Dashti on her "Home" series, which was featured in the 2020 exhibition “Reimagining Home: Photographs by Bahman Jalali and Gohar Dashti.” With an introduction from Laura Weinstein, Ananda Coomaraswamy Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art.
Nowruz is presented with support from Azi Djazani. Sponsored by Chase. Additional Programming support is provided by The Lowell Institute.
