The world premiere production of Bright Sheng and David Henry Hwang's opera Dream of the Red Chamber returns to the stage at San Francisco Opera June 14-July 3, 2022. This acclaimed and visually sumptuous production is directed by Stan Lai, with designs by Academy Award-winner Tim Yip; Darrell Ang conducts all seven performances.
Interview with the creators
Dream of the Red Chamber is Cao Xueqin’s 18th-century masterpiece of Chinese literature. The Qing Dynasty novel is an episodic record of the Jia Clan, whose good fortune is assured when one of its daughters becomes an imperial concubine, and then wanes into poverty and destitution after her death. In their adaptation of the epic novel, Sheng and Hwang focus on the ill-fated love story of soulmates Dai Yu and Bao Yu; the cast is distilled down to eight principals from the many hundreds of characters in the original text.
Interview with the creators and designers
Dream of the Red Chamber was commissioned by San Francisco Opera and premiered in September 2016, with subsequent performances in Shanghai, Wuhan, and Beijing, China, as well as at the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Since the premiere, Sheng has revised Act I — shortening its overall length and extending the central lover’s duet.
The cast in San Francisco features soprano Meigui Zhang as Dai Yu, Konu Kim as Bao Yu, Karen Chia-ling Ho as Princess Jia, Hongni Wu as Bao Chai and Hyona Kim as Lady Wang. This performance run includes a livestream on Sunday June 19 at 2p PST, which remains available on demand for 48 hours.
Explore Dream of the Red Chamber further with San Francisco Opera’s audio gallery and video gallery of “Moving Moments.”
For more information, please contact your local Wise Music Promotion Team. See Contact Us.
