Alice Ping Yee Ho: Chinatown
Leaf Music
It took five years for the two-act opera Chinatown to reach the finish line. After hatching the project idea in 2017, City Opera Vancouver invited celebrated Vancouver-born writer Madeleine Thien aboard to draft a libretto, which was thereafter workshopped and developed further through the incorporation of Hoisanese, a Chinese dialect, by translator Paul Yee. Hong Kong-born Canadian composer Alice Ping Yee Ho joined the team in 2020 to lend her formidable musical artistry to the score, and after more workshopping, again in Chinatown venues, the work was presented over five memorable nights in September 2022 at the Vancouver Playhouse. Listeners now have an opportunity to experience the opera thanks to Leaf Music's double-CD premiere recording of the work performed by its original cast.
How fitting that its story-line concerns combating adversity with strength and resilience when the same typically occurs whenever ambitious operas are conceived, developed, and mounted. That Chinatown also materialized during the pandemic says much about the commitment of those involved and their belief in the value of this special project. And that's not hyperbole: the opera's the first to include English, Cantonese, and Hoisanese and is distinctive for its bold integration of Chinese folk dialects and cultures.
The narrative, a multi-generational saga that spans more than six decades, involves two young men from Hoisan county in South China, Saihin (tenor Spencer Britten) and Xon Pon (bass Matthew Li), who come to Canada to seek better lives and settle in Vancouver's Chinatown where they confront discrimination, poverty, and myriad other difficulties (Xon Pon joins his father in Canada in 1896 and, while working in Chinatown, meets Saihin, who's saving to bring his wife and daughter to join him, in 1915). Their stories are symbolic of the challenges thousands of Chinese immigrants faced as they undertook similar migrations. With all the highs and lows such dramatic life changes entail, the story naturally possesses great dramatic potential for the opera's creators to capitalize on.
No opera is complete without a romantic relationship, and Chinatown obliges by providing one between Anna (soprano Emma Parkinson) and Eugene (tenor Derek Kwan); nevertheless, the primary relationship is the one shared by Saihin and Xon Pon. A major element in the opera concerns the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 (commonly known as the Chinese Exclusion Act) that prevented would-be immigrants from entering Canada for twenty-four years. Conductor Mary Chun does an expert job directing the six vocal leads, ghost chorus (representing early Chinatown settlers), and ten-piece instrumental ensemble. Perhaps by Metropolitan Opera standards, the vocal and instrumental forces are modest, but the collective gives radiant voice to Chinatown without sacrificing the work's intimate quality in the process.
In her riveting score, Alice Ping Yee Ho deftly couples Western and traditional Chinese instruments and engages the listener with masterful writing that honours the seriousness of the subject matter without becoming lugubrious; in fact, there are playful moments, and the tonal character and melodic richness of the music draws listeners into the opera's world. It's entirely fitting that a narrative involving cross-cultural migration should partner guzheng, erhu, gaohu, and dizi with piano, violin, viola, cello, harp, oboe, and percussion, and the composer's extensive background enabled her to write with authority for this multi-dimensional context. Her sparkling score flows beautifully, amplified as it is by the arresting timbres of the instruments and committed performances by vocalists and instrumentalist alike. There are moments of sadness in the story-line, but in keeping with its theme of resilience the animated music she fashioned for it emphasizes uplift and hope over despondency and despair.
Of course Chinatown is but one example of the staggering body of work she has created, which includes a vast array of orchestral, chamber, solo piano, vocal, and choral pieces, as well as two other cross-cultural operas, The Monkiest King (2018) and The Lesson of Da Ji (2013). A two-time Juno Award nominee, she's been the recipient of numerous awards and seen her material performed by orchestras, singers, and chamber musicians around the world. Anyone enchanted by her sterling contribution to Chinatown would be wise to explore further the remarkably diverse world of music she's produced.
Apparently, the 2022 performances were so powerful, they brought some attendees to tears, moved as they were by a story-line that resonated so personally. The narrative resonates beyond one specific group, however, when it addresses issues of discrimination and separation that, sadly, carry such contemporary relevance throughout the world. Conspicuous by its absence is a libretto, which is a shame considering how splendid the physical presentation of the project is otherwise. Yes, the booklet includes a scene-by-scene synopsis, but a libretto is all the more needed in this case when so much of the text is in Hoisanese, which many a listener will have no fluency in. Being able to clearly follow the narrative as it unfolds moment by moment becomes a challenge when only a synopsis is provided and no visuals are present to add clarity to the plot developments. That caveat noted, Chinatown otherwise well-earns its recommendation.January 2024