Portland Opera To Go Reveals New Commission: SHIZUE: An American Story for Fall 2024

Portland Opera to Go has revealed their new commission for Fall 2024, Shizue: An American Story, composed by Kenji Oh, with a libretto by Dmae Lo Roberts. This new piece illuminates the life of the remarkable poet and artist Shizue Iwatsuki. Shizue lived an extraordinary life as an inspiring artist with an adventurous spirit, in Hood River, Oregon, despite facing bigotry and imprisonment in American concentration camps, with thousands of other Japanese Americans during World War II. She became a leader in her community, celebrating Japanese culture and heritage while embracing American citizenship. Through it all, Shizue embodied the concept of gaman, which means “enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.” 

 

"I feel a great honor to be able to help bring Shizue: An American Story to young audiences in Oregon,” says librettist Dmae Lo Roberts. “Too often stories about women of color who contributed in great ways to their community are not told. Shizue Iwatsuki was a woman of great strength who was also an artist and a community leader. It also speaks to her endurance first as an immigrant who becomes a naturalized citizen and then later as a survivor of a wrongful incarceration during a shameful period of American history." 

 

“It is an honor to be part of this meaningful project that tells stories that should be told, with the power of opera” composer Kenji Oh commented. “I sometimes consider music as a tool/device, composing as designing. I'm excited to design this new opera that serves the community and has a social impact for a better world. I'm so glad for this opportunity that encouraged me to learn deeply about the history of Japanese Americans. Growing up as a third-generation immigrant in Japan and living in the US as a Shin-Issei (a first-generation immigrant after WW2), I've been exploring Japanese culture through music in different ways, looking into traditions, the beauty of nature, historical events, and Japanese-ness within myself. I'm thrilled to share the story of Shizue with the audience through my music. “ 

 

Shizue: An American Story is part of Portland Opera's ongoing mission to create shared opera experiences that enliven and connect us all, enhancing the cultural landscape of the beautiful Pacific Northwest. This opera is the second of Portland Opera's Our Oregon Project, which commissions youth operas that highlight the experiences of Oregonians through a variety of lenses. Last year, Portland Opera premiered the first opera in this series, Beatrice, a 50-minute youth opera inspired by the life and story of Beatrice Morrow Cannady, a prominent African American leader in Oregon's cultural community and civil rights movement of the early 1900s. Each opera in the series will be developed with K-12 schools and communities in mind and toured throughout the state and region in subsequent years. 

 

For over two decades, Portland Opera to Go (or POGO) has shared inclusive arts experiences with students, educators and community members around the region. In a typical year, POGO company members travel over 5,000 miles, to connect with approximately 13,000 K-12 students. Performances happen in school gyms, libraries, cafeterias, classrooms, and community centers—all with full costumes and portable scenery. Integrated in-class workshops and teacher's guides, highlighting curricular connections aligned to state curriculum standards, are available each year. This tour will follow a similar format, launching with a world premiere performance at Portland Opera's Hampton Opera Center in the Fall 2024. 

 

To date, Portland Opera to Go has shared opera with more than 285,000 student and community audience members living in Oregon, southwest and eastern Washington, northern California, western Idaho, and northern Nevada with special attention on schools with barriers to accessing the arts. School performances will begin being booked in March 2024. Educators interested may contact Alexis Hamilton at ahamilton@portlandopera.org in the spring! 

 

Portland Opera to Go is generously supported by the PGE Foundation, Community Foundation for Southwest Washington, Oregon Arts Commission, Portland Opera Guild, John & Carol Steele, the BNSF Foundation, Steven A. Gold Charitable Educational Institutions Trust, Pacific Power Foundation, and Drew and Sue Snyder.  

 

Portland Opera appreciates the ongoing support of our generous donors, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, Oregon Arts Commission, Oregon Community Foundation, Regional Arts and Culture Council, including support from the City of Portland, Multnomah County, and the Arts Education & Access Fund, special support from The CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund, and The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) program.  
 

Biographies:  

 

Kenji Oh, Composer 

 

Kenji Oh is a Japanese composer based in California. He has collaborated with Giacomo Fiore, ZOFO, Amaranth Quartet, the Esoterics, Synchromy, among others. In addition to concert music, Oh has composed music for various kinds of media such as film, theatre, TV, video games, dance, and also for gymnastics floor exercise, being a gymnast himself. This year, he completed his first opera The Emissary, with librettist Kelley Rourke and Opera Parallèle. He is currently working on his second opera with librettist Dmae Lo Roberts and Portland Opera. 

He initiated his career as a media music composer while studying at Kyoto University of Education, where he earned his BLA Degree in Information Music. He pursued his Master of Music Degree in Composition from San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied under David Garner. His music vividly illustrates imagery, like a scroll of paint or a sculpture of sound.  

 

Dmae Lo Roberts, Librettist 

 

Dmae Roberts is a two-time Peabody award-winning writer and independent media and theatre artist who has written and produced more than 400 audio art pieces and documentaries for NPR and PRI programs. Her Peabody award-winning documentary Mei Mei, a Daughter's Song is a harrowing account of her mother's childhood in Taiwan during WWII. Her Crossing East, the first Asian American history series on public radio also garnered a Peabody award. The eight-hour series took three years to produce and ran on more than 230 stations around the country. She is now creating the Crossing East Archive Project its 10th anniversary, an online repository of nearly 300 hours of oral history interviews collected for the ground-breaking series. 

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