‘The Golden Door’: an American immigrant song cycle

Experience an evening of music, storytelling, and oral history as composer and songwriter Shaudi Bianca Vahdat presents a solo version of her new project, The Golden Door: an American immigrant song cycle.

This intimate performance marks the culmination of Shaudi’s Inscape Arts residency, offering you the chance to be among the first to hear these songs in a casual setting before the project receives a full-cast performance in Seattle Center as part of the Artists at the Center program this spring.

Originally workshopped at Berklee College of Music in Valencia, Spain, as part of Shaudi's thesis project, The Golden Door draws from a series of interviews conducted by Shaudi with people who identify as members of a BIPOC immigrant community in the US, who want to share their stories. Using these interviews, historical documents, and her own identity as a second generation Iranian-American, Shaudi has crafted a series of songs which will be performed together as a song cycle honoring, exploring, and finding joy in these diverse tales of coming to the US.

The historical venue of Inscape, which from 1932-2004 served as Seattle’s detention and processing center for immigrants, adds another layer of emotion and history to the performance.

The music draws from American folk and jazz traditions while staying deeply connected to musical theatre. Each song is told from the point of view of a different character, each based on a real interviewee. Expect humor, heartbreak, and true stories of creating a life in the US.