Writer Rebecca Solnit remarked, “If you haven’t heard Rumi’s work performed by a translator who can read him — and sing him — in the original Persian, this Rumi, presented by translator — and rock star — Haleh Liza Gafori is for you.”
On Friday, Nov. 6, Gafori will bring Rumi’s poetry to life through spoken word and song at Race Brook Lodge in Sheffield, Massachusetts, in what will be the venue’s final performance before closing.
The evening promises to be both a celebration and a farewell, as the beloved Berkshires gathering place prepares to end a chapter of music, community and cultural exchange.
Gafori, a translator, vocalist and performance artist, has spent a decade exploring Rumi’s poetry and finding new ways to make his centuries-old wisdom accessible to contemporary audiences. Her acclaimed translations, published in two volumes, “Gold” and “Water,” capture the poet’s ecstatic language and enduring themes of love, longing, transformation and the dissolution of boundaries.
Accompanied by cellist Isabel Castellvi, Gafori will recite her English translations and sing Rumi’s verses in their original Persian, creating a musical and poetic conversation across languages, cultures and centuries.
A 2024 MacDowell fellow, Gafori has presented her work at Lincoln Center, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and universities across the country. Her approach honors both the musicality of the original Persian and the spiritual urgency of Rumi’s writing, bringing ancient poetry into dialogue with contemporary life.
The evening will open with a performance by Western Massachusetts poet and musician James Bird, whose ethereal folk music draws on mythology and timeless stories of love, loss and renewal.
For Race Brook Lodge, which has long welcomed artists, musicians and audiences seeking connection through shared experiences, the evening offers a fitting final note. Rumi’s poetry, with its insistence on love as a force that transcends separation, seems particularly suited to the occasion.
The performance begins at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 7 p.m. For information and tickets, visit rblodge.com.
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