Putting a Complex Novel to Music

For a Chinese-American, such visits must be very meaningful.
The last trip I made, I saw for the first time the island where my grandmother went to play mah-jongg at the invitation of the second wife of the man who raped her. I saw the room where she lived after being forced to become a concubine, and where, a year later, after giving birth to my uncle, she killed herself, with my then 9-year-old mother at her side. I had a feeling of being in a prison.

What ' s your hope for the opera?
Part of it has been fulfilled already, as I've had this amazing musical experience. If people respond enthusiastically, I'll be grateful. But even terrible reviews cannot diminish its success for me personally. It will hurt, but I won't regret doing what's been so fulfilling.

© 2008