Opera Parallele Presents World Premiere of THE EMISSARY October 27-28 At ODC Theater

For its seventh iteration of the company's “Hands-On-Opera” initiative, Opera Parallèle has commissioned multi-faceted Japanese composer Kenji Oh* for his very first opera along with prolific librettist Kelley Rourke* to create an adaptation of The Emissary, a new family opera based on the award-winning novel by celebrated Japanese author Yoko Tawada, featuring an English translation by Margaret Mitsutani.

The Emissary audience will journey through a fractured future, a dystopian satire that addresses the alarming environmental angst of today, and the ever-increasing psychological stress on the younger generation. As previously announced, The Emissary will launch Opera Parallèle's 2023-24 season, the acclaimed opera company's 14 anniversary year.

The Emissary cast features Angela Yam* (Mumei), Bradley Kynard (Yoshiro) and the Lick Wilmerding High School Chorus. Nicole Paiement will conduct two performances on Friday, October 27 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, October 28 at 4 p.m.; Jaco Wong will be on the podium for the October 28 at 1 p.m. performance. The creative team includes director, choreographer and veteran ODC dancer Yayoi Kambara; chorus director Tony Asaro*; scenic and costume designer Matthew Linzer*; and lighting designer Spense Matubang*.

Composer Kenji Oh commented, “Writing an opera for the first time was a demanding task. I had never been really into opera music actually. Opera felt like a very special thing for special people somehow. I'm very glad for this opportunity encouraging me to explore this art form of opera. I'm so grateful for Opera Parallèle's generous and courageous spirit. I would not be able to have completed this piece without the support and encouragement from my writing partner Kelley Rourke, Nicole Paiement and the team at  OP. Even though I was not particularly knowledgeable about opera, I realized I had been prepared for this by writing vocal music, programmatic instrumental music, and media music such as theater plays, films, television, video games, and dance performances. I reconfirmed my passion for storytelling and the power of storytelling plus music as I worked on this commission.”

Kenji Oh continued, “Also considering the mix of professional musicians and high school students was a fun/tricky part of this commission. I was careful about the balance of demands, roles, simplicity/complexity, ease/challenging-ness, harmonic language, and overall structure. It took some time to really decide a direction I wanted to go for with this piece. But once I decided to focus this piece to be a device serving the Hands-On-Opera's vision, decision-making got easier to design(compose) the device(piece).”

The composer concluded, “This opera is not only about climate change and environmental issues, but social issues behind them as well. Leaving it ambiguous at the end like the original novel, this opera expresses Mumei's death without heaviness but with hope. Younger audiences may believe it as a departure to become an emissary. Since there are Buddhism references in the original novel, there are some nods to Buddhism in the opera as well: the final dragonfly canon implies reincarnation across the Sanzu River.”

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