It’s a story of the implications of love and filial piety, central in most Chinese families, against the backdrop of power, wealth and eventually, tyranny. They ended up in retaining just seven characters, focusing only on the love triangle between predestined soulmates Bao Yu-of the Jia family-and his poor but brilliant cousin Dai Yu, complicated by the illustrious and wealthy Bao Chai of the Xue family. From this work, more than 2000 pages long and featuring over 40 major characters, librettist Hwang and composer Sheng had the daunting task to distill a two-and-a-half-hour opera. This month-almost six years of that date- Dream made another history as the first SF Opera’s commissioned works to be revived at the War Memorial Opera House in its original production, opened last Tuesday June 14 and was seen Friday.ĭream was based on the colossal 18th century novel of the same name ( Honglou Meng in Mandarin) of Cao Xueqin, one of the four great Classical novels of in Chinese literature. One of the last things he worked on, and then realized by the current General Director Matthew Shilvock in his first season, was the world premiere of Bright Sheng and David Henry Hwang’s Dream of the Red Chamber on September 10, 2016.įollowing the sold-out world premiere, Dream of the Red Chamber (abbreviated Dream subsequently) made history when it became the first American opera to tour China, with performances in Hong Kong, Beijing, Changsha and Wuhan, merely six months afterwards. The previous General Director (now SF Opera General Director Emeritus) David Gockley himself was responsible for about one-third of that number during his ten year tenure. Since presenting its first world premiere in 1961 ( Norman Dello Joio‘s Blood Moon), San Francisco Opera has always made it part of its mission to present new operas in their seasons, as they have commissioned or co-commissioned more than 30 operas throughout the years.
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