Adapted from the best-selling novel by beloved Bay Area author Amy Tan, this world premiere tells a resonant story of belated intergenerational understanding that leads to emotional healing. A troubled Chinese-American woman learns the horrible secrets of her immigrant mother’s past in this touching and terrifying tale, set in both modern-day San Francisco and the Chinese countryside during the tumultuous events surrounding World War II.

Composer Stewart Wallace (Harvey Milk) incorporates the timbres and textures of Chinese music into his highly expressive and lyrical score—an American opera with roots in China. Mezzo-soprano Zheng Cao, the splendid Suzuki in San Francisco Opera’s recent Madama Butterfly, heads the cast of this deeply personal work. Star of the Lincoln Center Festival’s historic production of The Peony Pavilion, Kunju singer Qian Yi has been acclaimed by the The New York Times Magazine as “China’s reigning opera princess.”

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The Bonesetter’s Daughter Opera