San Francisco, CA
San Francisco premiere for opera based on Journey to the West
Huang Ruo watched his kids on Halloween during the coronavirus pandemic, his son dressed as Spider-Man and Batman, his daughter as Elsa from Frozen.
“I was just thinking, wouldn’t it be nice to have a superhero figure from Asia so all these kids could have something from that part of the world to wear, to look up to?” the composer said.
He decided to write The Monkey King, based on an episode from the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West in which a primate born from stone acquires supernatural powers and seeks immortality.
The work, with singing in English and Mandarin, will be given its world premiere by the San Francisco Opera on November 14.
San Francisco Opera general director Matthew Shilvock issued the commission following the success of another work by a Chinese composer, Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber, which the company premiered in 2016.