THE WEEPING CAMEL Music by Huang Ruo
Libretto by Candace Chong
About The Weeping Camel
Based on a true story that was the subject of an Academy Award-nominated documentary, The Weeping Camel follows a family of nomadic shepherds in Mongolia and their struggle to save a newborn camel calf. After a protracted labor and birth, one of the family’s camels rejects her rare, all-white calf, refusing it her milk. To save the calf, the family secures the services of an indigenous musician who promises that the calming sounds, chants and folk melodies of a Mongolian ‘Hoos’ ritual will restore harmony between the camel and its mother.
Composer Huang Ruo and librettist Candace Chong most recently collaborated on the opera Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, which received the world premiere of its Chinese orchestra version at the Hong Kong Culture Centre Theatre in four performances in 2011.
The Weeping Camel opera will feature six principals (Soprano, Lyric Mezzo-Soprano, Boy Soprano, Tenor, Baritone, and Bass Baritone), a chorus of four (SATB), and a projected 27-piece orchestra featuring a Morin Khuur, the Mongolian “horse fiddle” used by the musician in the story. It is an opera for audiences of all ages that will integrate both Western and Chinese opera traditions with contemporary musical language as well as use Chinese masks and puppetry to tell its uplifting story about the spiritual power of music.
Developed in collaboration with Symphony Space and the Guangzhou Opera House company in China.
The Weeping Camel has been made possible in part by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts's ART WORKS initiative.
About the Creators
HUANG RUO (composer)
Recently awarded First Prize by the prestigious Luxembourg International Composition Prize, Huang Ruo has been cited by the New Yorker as “one of the most intriguing of the new crop of Asian-American composers.” His vibrant and inventive musical voice draws equal inspiration from Chinese folk, Western avant-garde, rock, and jazz to create a seamless, organic integration using a compositional technique he calls "dimensionalism." Huang Ruo’s writing spans from orchestra, chamber music, opera, theater, and modern dance, to sound installation, multi-media, experimental improvisation, folk rock, and film. Ensembles who have premiered and performed his music include the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Asko Ensemble, Nieuw Ensemble, Quatuor Diotima, and Dutch Vocal Laboratory, and under conductors such as Wolfgang Sawallisch, James Conlon, Dennis Russell Davies, Ed Spanjaard, Xian Zhang, and Ilan Volkov. www.huangruo.com
CANDACE CHONG (librettist)
Candace Chong has been involved with the Hong Kong theatre, programming, and entertainment industry since the year 2000 and has been part of such cultural institutions as the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and the Chung Ying Theater Company. She is an award-winning playwright and has had plenty of her work showcased in various theater festivals in Hong Kong. Some of her works have been translated and performed abroad, such as "The French Kiss," which was translated to English and performed in the United States at the Lark Theater in New York City.
WATCH
Excerpt from The Story of The Weeping Camel (2003)
Directed by Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni
Produced by Tobias Siebert
Presented by National Geographic World Films and THINKFilm NOTE: The producers and artists of the 2003 documentary are not associated with the making of this opera.
HUANG RUO (composer)
