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Stage Works by Huang Ruo Premiere in New York and Chicago

Jan. 25, 2024

The NYC premiere of Huang Ruo's staged oratorio, Angel Island took place on January 11 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of Next Wave 2023 and the Prototype Festival. Additional performances in the sold-out run took place on January 12-13, conducted by the composer and directed by Matthew Ozawa with choreography by Rena Butler and film design by Bill Morrison.

The inspiration behind the creation of Angel Island came from actual events that took place on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay in the first half of the 20th century:

"Between 1910 and 1940, many Chinese immigrants flowed through the immigration station on Angel Island inside San Francisco Bay, facing mass discrimination under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, with few exceptions. With music by acclaimed Chinese-American composer Huang Ruo, Angel Island revisits this chapter of American history with a poignant multimedia experience scored for voices and a string quartet that blurs the boundaries of opera, theater, dance, and music. Ruo, along with director Matthew Ozawa, weaves a powerful requiem from the century-old poetry engraved on the detention center’s walls by some of the hundreds of thousands of incarcerated Chinese immigrants. Angel Island arrives amid an ongoing epidemic of brutal violence and rampant discrimination against immigrants, asylum-seekers, and Asians across the diaspora. This production is a stirring plea for care and empathy as well as a visceral, clear-eyed tribute to the rebellion and resilience of those who passed through and perished at Angel Island."

Angel Island was produced by Beth Morrison Projects in association with Brooklyn Academy of Music and commissioned by Hewlett 50 Arts Commissions / Del Sol Quartet with a completion commission by Singapore International Festival of Art. 


Trailer | BAM and Prototype Festival Present Huang Ruo's Angel Island

Additionally, Chicago Opera Theater presents the Midwest premiere of Huang Ruo's Book of Mountains and Seas, a Beth Morrison Projects Production, in sold-out performances on January 26-28 at the Studebaker Theater.

The Chicago Opera Theater notes:

"Presented in partnership with the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, Book of Mountains and Seas examines our modern-day relationship with the natural world. Four fables centered around the creation and destruction of the earth are uniquely told by a company of 12 singers, two percussionists, and six puppeteers with staging by celebrated puppeteer Basil Twist. Huang Ruo’s vibrant and inventive score, which draws inspiration from Chinese folk music, breathes new life into the ancient stories. This is a powerful and extraordinary work that will challenge the way you interact with nature and the environment."

Book of Mountains and Seas is performed by Ars Nova Copenhagen, conducted by Miles Lallemant, and directed by Basil Twist. 


Chicago Opera Theater presents Huang Ruo's Book of Mountains and Seas

To learn more about Huang Ruo, visit schott-music.com.

Huang Ruo
Angel Island
oratorio for string quartet and voices
in English and Mandarin with Mandarin and English surtitles
90'

Book of Mountains and Seas (2021)
libretto by Huang Ruo
in Chinese and invented language with English surtitles
80'

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