Lotfi Mansouri: An Operatic Journey »

LOTFOLLAH "LOTFI" MANSOURI is an Iranian-born opera director and manager. He was the general director of the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto from 1976 to 1988 and of the San Francisco Opera from 1988 through 2001. In addition, he is credited with the revolutionary introduction of the running translation strip or "supertitles" to the world of opera in 1983. In 2009 he received the Opera Honors award of the National Endowment for the Arts.

A lively and engaging memoir of one of opera's driving forces

Library Journal

Opera director and company manager Mansouri, though perhaps not known by most music lovers, has been a driving force in the world of opera for nearly 40 years. He has had a distinguished international career as a guest director, but it was his lengthy association with the San Francisco Opera, including a 13-year reign as general director, that brought him the most renown. A fearless innovator, he introduced supertitles and championed accessible contemporary opera and inventive productions. Mansouri is a larger-than-life character, and his memoir overflows with colorful anecdotes and strong opinions. His personal story is also compelling—a bizarre childhood in Iran, his flight to America, an apprenticeship at the University of California-L.A., and gradual toeholds in the opera world, first as a performer then as director and impresario. He tells his story sequentially and peppers each chapter with trenchant observations about operatic luminaries he has encountered along the way. VERDICT Compared with Joshua Jampol's recent Living Opera, Mansouri's memoir presents a more warts-and-all view of the world of opera. It will be highly valued by opera lovers.—Larry A. Lipkis, Moravian Coll., Bethlehem, PA

Acknowledgments Prologue - Staging My Own Funeral Paradoxes in Persia Lotfi in La-La Land Americans to the Rescue The Swiss Connection Iranian Intermezzo Back on Track North of the Border The Road Back to Tinsel Town From Provincial to World Class Open Your Golden Gate!
Mother Nature Gives an Encore Leaving My Heart An Operatic Voice for North America Lords and Ladies of the Larynx, Potentates of the Podium Mansouri's Gallery of Illustrious Colleagues Epilogue - Still in Progress Appendix - Films and DVDs Appendix - Productions Directed by Mansouri Index