Madame White Snake

March 8-9, 2019
Lyric Theatre, HKAPA
Hong Kong

Credits

Zhou Long
Composer

Cerise Lim Jacobs
Creator and Librettist

Commissioned by Opera Boston and the Beijing Music Festival Foundation.

Madame White Snake is dedicated by Cerise to Charles, with whom everything is possible.

The 2019 Hong Kong Production is supported by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through USArtists International in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

About

Madame White Snake, the 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, is the story of a white snake demon who longs to become human to experience love.

She transforms into a woman, meets Xu Xian, a mortal man and marries him. But she is afraid to disclose her true identity. She encounters the Abbot of the Golden Mountain Monastery who recognizes her as his arch nemesis - the snake. The Abbot sows the seeds of doubt in Xu’s mind and gives him a “truth potion” which re-transforms her back into a snake. The Abbot spirits away Xu and the White Snake raises the waters to drown the Abbot to get him back. A great flood engulfs the world; she is defeated by the Abbot after giving birth to a son.

Cast

Susannah Biller Madame White Snake

Michael Maniaci Xiao Xing

Peter Tantsits Xu Xian

Dong-Jian Gong Abbot

Creative Team

Cerise Lim Jacobs Librettist

Zhou Long Composer

Lan Shui Conductor

Michael Counts Director and Production Designer

Zane Pihlstrom Costume Designer

Zhao Yi Lighting Designer

S. Katy Tucker Lighting Designer

The Inspiration

What do you give a man who has everything and wants nothing?

I know – music, beautiful voices – a song cycle! It was 2005. Charles was going to be seventy-five in 2008. I thought I was brilliant coming up with that idea for his 75th. I could surprise him with a performance of the song cycle in our living room on his birthday. The song cycle I planned to commission did not happen; instead, it morphed into a fully-fledged opera that won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for its composer, Zhou Long.

News

Workshops, White Snakes, and More!

What a joy to speak with you about a vibrant and dynamic collaborator In I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams—the Boston Children’s Chorus led by Choral Director, Jason Holmes! BCC hosted a three-day music workshop for Dreamer in November 2018 and showed us their musical chops! Read More

From Hong Kong with Love

What an exciting March it has been: Leaping forward into longer days with Daylight Savings Time, welcoming spring with its green shoots of daffodils and tulips, and, the Hong Kong premiere of Madame White Snake on March 8 and 9! Read More