Huang Ruo is a distinguished composer and conductor known for his innovative contributions to contemporary music. With a rich background that reflects his dedication to storytelling through sound, Ruo has garnered acclaim for his ability to weave intricate narratives into his compositions. One of his notable works, Bound, showcases his talent as both a composer and conductor, drawing inspiration from the poignant true story of Diane Tran, a Vietnamese immigrant's daughter navigating the complexities of family obligations and societal challenges. This production not only highlights Ruo's artistic vision but also his commitment to addressing pressing social issues through the medium of opera. His work has been recognized for its emotional depth and cultural relevance, earning him a prominent place in the modern music landscape. As he continues to push the boundaries of traditional forms, Ruo is currently engaged in several upcoming projects that promise to further enrich the artistic community. His unique voice and perspective are set to captivate audiences, making him a significant figure in the world of contemporary classical music.

Composer

Librettist

Join us for an unforgettable musical journey as Dane Lam conducts Mahler with the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, November 17, 2024, from 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM at the historic Hawaii Theatre, located at 1130 Bethel Street, Honolulu, HI. This exceptional concert will feature the celestial Symphony No. 4 by Gustav Mahler, with the operatic soprano Sofia Troncoso showcasing her fiendish agility. The program also includes Barber's captivating Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and the Pacific Premiere of Huang Ruo’s climate-change inspired Tipping Point, a HSO Co-Commission.

This performance is part of the Halekulani Masterworks 24/25 series and promises to be a mesmerizing exploration of the crisp and breathtaking colors of our changing world. Ticket holders are invited to a special pre-concert talk in the auditorium at 3:00 PM, offering deeper insights into the evening's program.

Single tickets will go on sale May 15. Don't miss this opportunity to experience the magic of Mahler under the baton of Dane Lam, alongside the talented Sofia Troncoso and the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. For ticketing information and to secure your seats, please visit our website or contact the HSO Box Office at 808 380-7720, available Tuesday through Friday, 10 am - 2 pm.

Dane Conducts Mahler

Hawaii Theatre

Love, betrayal, self-deception. The themes of M. Butterfly intertwine with those of Puccini’s achingly tragic opera; but here they’re ingeniously upended as the action is relocated to Paris and Mao’s China. Nothing is quite what it seems. Stereotypes are challenged, power struggles realigned. Reprising their roles from the 2022 Santa Fe world premiere, Kangmin Justin Kim is the alluring Chinese opera singer of the title, with Mark Stone as René Gallimard, a man whose life is about to implode in more ways than one.

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Huang Ruo’s M. Butterfly

Barbican Centre

On October 3, 2011, Chinese-American Army Pvt. Danny Chen was found dead in a guard tower at his base in Afghanistan. Based on his story and the ensuing courts-martial of Chen’s fellow soldiers, this New York City premiere opera tells the powerful true story of a young soldier from Manhattan’s Chinatown who sought to serve his country, only to find his biggest threat was the very people who swore to protect him.

An American Soldier

Perelman Arts Center

A fantastical world of sunbirds, demons and hairy giants is evoked in The Book of Mountains & Seas, a fascinating work of vocal theater for 12 singers, two percussionists and six puppet masters. Composer/librettist Huang Ruo took his inspiration from a classic compilation of Chinese mythology《山海經》first transcribed in the fourth century B.C. Over the years, these stories have become part of Chinese written and oral history, shifted and reshaped to match contemporary times. 

First performed in 2021, Huang Ruo's compelling new adaptation of these tales comes to the Broad Stage as LA Opera's 12th collaboration with the groundbreaking Beth Morrison Projects. Told through the lens of our modern-day relationship with the natural world, the ancient stories of creation and destruction conjure a sense of respect and awe for the environment and the water stories challenge us to be good stewards of the natural resources we have been given. The Book of Mountains and Seas contains timeless codes about the universe, creation, planet, nature, life, human ambition and fate, the relationship and interaction between mankind and the world we live in.

The Book of Mountains & Seas

Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center

A daring new work by composer Huang Ruo and puppeteer/designer/director Basil Twist, Book of Mountains and Seas is a modern take on ancient Chinese creation myths, first transcribed in the 4th Century BC, yet strikingly relevant to our current struggle with climate change. An ensemble of massive puppets, as fanciful as they are terrifying, and the chorus of Ars Nova Copenhagen challenge us through music and stunning visual tableaux to consider the power of the natural world and our vital, yet tenuous, relationship to it.

Book of Mountains and Seas

Stanford University

Join us for an unforgettable evening as the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra presents "Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger: Year of the Dragon" on Sunday, February 11, 2024, from 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM at the historic Hawaii Theatre, located at 1130 Bethel Street, Honolulu, HI. This extraordinary concert event promises to be a celebration of music, vision, and virtuosity, showcasing the beauty and glory of our planet Earth.

Under the baton of conductor Dane Lam, the concert will feature a monumental song cycle of life, death, and nature with Mahler's "Das Lied von der Erde." The performance will be brought to life by the talents of tenor Warren Mok and mezzo-soprano Stacey Rishoi. Adding to the evening’s splendor, HSO's own Mark Votapek will perform Tan Dun's sweeping cello concerto from Ang Lee’s Academy Award-winning film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

The program will also include the world premiere of Huang Ruo's "The Grand Song," followed by an intermission, and then culminate with Mahler's masterpiece. For an enhanced experience, ticket holders are invited to join a special pre-concert talk in the auditorium at 3:00 PM.

For your safety and comfort, masks are encouraged throughout the event, and contact points will be minimized. Tickets are available online or through the HSO Box Office. For more information or to purchase tickets, please call the HSO Box Office at 808 380-7720, available Tuesday through Friday, between 10 am - 2 pm.

Don’t miss this opportunity to witness a unique blend of classical music and cinematic score, all while supporting the arts in Hawaiʻi.

Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger: Year of the Dragon

Join us for this evening of community and cultural exchange that is wonderful for families and children as we celebrate the Year of the Dragon. 

Music Director Xian Zhang ignited the first Lunar New Year Celebration six years ago, and this festive tradition continues with conductor Yue Bao and pianist Tony Siqi Yun.

2024 Lunar New Year Celebration

New Jersey Performing Arts Center

Presented in partnership with the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, Book of Mountains and Seas examines our modern-day relationship with the natural world. Four fables centered around the creation and destruction of the earth are uniquely told by a company of 12 singers, two percussionists, and six puppeteers with staging by celebrated puppeteer Basil Twist. Huang Ruo’s vibrant and inventive score, which draws inspiration from Chinese folk music, breathes new life into the ancient stories. This is a powerful and extraordinary work that will challenge the way you interact with nature and the environment.

Studebaker Theater

Between 1910 and 1940, many Chinese immigrants flowed through the immigration station on Angel Island inside San Francisco Bay, facing mass discrimination under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, with few exceptions. With music by acclaimed Chinese-American composer Huang Ruo, Angel Island revisits this chapter of American history with a poignant multimedia experience scored for voices and a string quartet that blurs the boundaries of opera, theater, dance, and music. Huang Ruo, along with director Matthew Ozawa, weaves a powerful requiem from the century-old poetry engraved on the detention center’s walls by some of the hundreds of thousands of incarcerated Chinese immigrants. Angel Island arrives amid an ongoing epidemic of brutal violence and rampant discrimination against immigrants, asylum-seekers, and Asians across the diaspora. This production is a stirring plea for care and empathy as well as a visceral, clear-eyed tribute to the rebellion and resilience of those who passed through and perished at Angel Island.

Angel Island

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Starting in 1910, many immigrants who journeyed to America were processed at an immigration station on Angel Island" class="css-u850">Angel Island, located in the middle of San Francisco Bay. Until a fire led to its closure in 1940, the station primarily functioned as a detention center, where half a million people from 80 countries were held under barbaric conditions—some for weeks, others for years. The majority of these detainees were Chinese migrants, who were banned from entering the United States under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, with few exceptions.

BAM Strong

Folk songs tell the story of life, community, and tradition. Experience the lush, fantastic musical language from Ravel and Debussy while being introduced to the playful and creative works of Ruo and Spivakovsky all in the spirit of folk songs. Folk Songs for Orchestra, according to the composer, drew inspiration “from the Chinese ancient and folk music, Western avant-garde, rock, and jazz.” Spivakovsky’s Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra presents the harmonica in a way you have never experienced before. The “French Connection” rounds out the program with Debussy’s symphonic poem, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, and Ravel’s Mother Goose.

Ravel & Debussy

The Bushnell

America/Beautiful is a project by pianist and arts advocate Min Kwon, in which she has commissioned a diverse group of more than 70 of today’s leading American composers to each compose a variation on “America the Beautiful.”

Kwon's hope is to paint a sonic picture of her adopted country in all of its sprawling complexity, and ultimately try to find the beauty at the core of the American experiment and its credo of e pluribus unum (out of many, one).

America / Beautiful: Min Kwon piano

Aspen Meadows Resort

Inspired by a true story, eleventh grade honor roll student Diane Tran is the child of two Vietnamese immigrants who are now divorced. With her father rarely around and her mother gone, Diane feels bound to help provide financially for her family, be both sister and parent to her siblings, and also keep up her honor roll studies.

Through the lens of an exhausted dream, we follow Diane as she struggles with familial duties, her mother's abandonment, and the injustices of a system lacking compassion or understanding. As Diane's mother shares her own reasons for leaving family behind, Diane must make an impossible decision in this "land of laws."

Bound

Seattle Center

Washington Performing Arts presents "ANGEL ISLAND: An Oratorio for Voices & String Quartet," a profound musical experience that brings to life the stories of Chinese immigrants who passed through Angel Island Immigration Station between 1910 and 1940. This event features the collaborative talents of composer Huang Ruo, the Del Sol Quartet, and The U.S. Air Force Band's Singing Sergeants. Set against the backdrop of America's earliest racist immigration legislation, this oratorio is inspired by the poetry inscribed on the walls of the detention center by immigrants facing harsh conditions. This performance aims to weave a narrative of immigration, discrimination, and confinement, connecting history with the realities of our current lives.

The event is scheduled for Tuesday, May 2, 2023, at 7:00 PM at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art. It is co-presented in partnership with the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art and The United States Air Force Band. This oratorio not only showcases a significant piece of Asian American history but also serves as a powerful reminder of the ongoing struggles for racial equality and justice.

"ANGEL ISLAND: An Oratorio for Voices & String Quartet" is part of Washington Performing Arts's The World in Our City initiative, which promotes cross-cultural understanding and cultural diplomacy. This performance is supported by generous contributions from Betsy and Robert Feinberg, among other lead supporters of Washington Performing Arts's mission-driven work.

National Mall

Ui Symphony Orchestra

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

We are pleased to present, Huang Ruo as part of the Pasadena Symphony’s annual Composers Showcase, featuring works by both emerging and established contemporary composers at each concert.

Beethoven and Rachmaninoff

Ambassador Auditorium

Celebrate the Lunar New Year: Year of the Tiger with the SF Symphony at this vibrant event that draws upon Asian traditions, past and present. Enjoy the Festival Reception’s host of activities followed by a performance of Eastern and Western repertoire by the Symphony.

Lunar New Year: Year of the Tiger

Davies Symphony Hall

Mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke returns to Davies Symphony Hall for a program made up entirely of world premieres written by composers during the pandemic and dedicated specifically to Cooke. Together with pianist Kirill Kuzmin, Cooke shines a light on the hopes, fears, and observations of living through an unprecedented time, featuring the brightest compositional talents in music today.

Sasha Cooke: How do I find you

A lost highway, witches, folk songs… Volti joins Left Coast for an eclectic, beautiful, and sometimes unsettling sonic journey. New works from LJ White and Todd Kitchen, exploring instability and dreams, contrast with the humor of Laurie San Martin’s Witches and Benjamin Britten’s tender folk song arrangements.

On the Threshold of Dreamland

First Church of Christ, Scientist

Noe Valley Ministry

Our tradition of collaboration continues with an exciting new
commission from LJ White, alongside our ongoing partnership with Left
Coast Chamber Ensemble. This program highlights the beauty of
collective creativity and the power of musical dialogue.

Program #2:  Ensemble Collaborations

First Church of Christ Scientist

Spring’s Awakening presents a musical commentary on the natural world. Einojuhani Rautavaara’s innovative work Cantus Arcticus features recordings of arctic birds in dialogue with the various instruments of the orchestra, creating harmonious fusions that express the longing for unity between humans and nature. The dynamic and introspective Tipping Point by Huang Ruo is a work that reflects on the delicate balance between humanity and the environment, and contrasting percussive rhythms, representing the urgency of our ecological crisis. Schumann’s Symphony No. 1, the “Spring Symphony,” is a jubilant expression of renewal and rebirth. From its exuberant opening to its triumphant finale, Schumann captures the essence of springtime with lush orchestrations and joyous melodies, reminding us of the eternal cycle of life and the promise of new beginnings.

Huang Ruo

Composer, Librettist

Events

Upcoming events

Jan 25 - Feb 1, 2025

On the Threshold of Dreamland · Left Coast Chamber Ensemble

Jan 25 - Feb 1, 2025

Program #2: Ensemble Collaborations · Volti

Mar 16, 2025

Spring’s Awakening · Berkeley Symphony

May 1, 2025

Ensemble Connect · The Juilliard School

Past events

Nov 17, 2024

Dane Conducts Mahler · Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra

Oct 25, 2024

Huang Ruo’s M. Butterfly · Barbican Centre

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in Bound by Ruo

Seattle Opera

About

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