The Bonesetter's Daughter
Last night I attended one of OPERA America's quarterly salon series, this one featuring live excerpts from Stewart Wallace and Amy Tan's The Bonesetter's Daughter, an opera adapted from Tan's 2001 novel of the same name. The music and singing was gorgeous, but I have to admit it still feels weird to hear an opera sung in English. Being 86,000 years old, my mind always expects either Italian or German when it comes to opera, and wants to label anything sung in English simply a musical.
The story of both the novel and the opera sounds pretty amazing -- another generational tale of three women from an author who has made this her specialty, though this time incorporating a lot more Chinese mythology and ghosts -- however it also sounds incredibly depressing, what with all the rape, suicide and misery. Not sure I could stomach the whole story. I must be getting overly sensitive in my old age.
Composer Stewart Wallace was in attendance to introduce the excerpts, fill us in on the history of the opera and even sing the role of Chang the coffin maker. The whole evening was an amazing experience. I'm grateful to OPERA America for putting it together, and to my gf for putting me on the guest list.
The story of both the novel and the opera sounds pretty amazing -- another generational tale of three women from an author who has made this her specialty, though this time incorporating a lot more Chinese mythology and ghosts -- however it also sounds incredibly depressing, what with all the rape, suicide and misery. Not sure I could stomach the whole story. I must be getting overly sensitive in my old age.
Composer Stewart Wallace was in attendance to introduce the excerpts, fill us in on the history of the opera and even sing the role of Chang the coffin maker. The whole evening was an amazing experience. I'm grateful to OPERA America for putting it together, and to my gf for putting me on the guest list.