Opera in two acts, based on a 14th-century Chinese play and its European transformations at the hands of Voltaire, Goethe, and other Enlightenment dramatists. This is a new kind of multicultural music-theatre that is yet rooted in Eastern and Western traditions, and features a libretto in seven languages, a large orchestra of both conventional and electronic instruments, and a mixed cast with opera singers, speaker, mimes, chorus, and dancers.
Commissioned by THEATER ERFURT, Germany; World Premiere in November 2009 BEFORE BRABANT
A Legend in Music in Four Scenes for four singers, seven players, and conductor
Commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts Festival and premiered at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts in March 2014, the 65-minute chamber opera draws on Robert Copland's The Knyght of the Swanne (1512) to relate the enchanted childhood and youth of Lohengrin—originally named Helyas—up to the point when he sails in his swan-drawn boat into the opening scene of Wagner's opera.
CAST: Louise Kwong, soprano (Beatrice); Andión Fernández, mezzo-soprano (Helyas/Midwife); Stephen Nagy, tenor (Matabrune/Eremite); Apollo Wong, bass-baritone (Oryant/Markes); Hong Kong New Music Ensemble; Lio Kuokman, conductor