SEVEN SISTERS

A chamber opera musical workshop

April 8, 2022
4:00pm
Miller Recital Hall
130 Claremont Ave
New York, New York 10027

Framed by the ritual of a Taiwanese funeral, and threaded through with the myth of the Pleiades reimagined, this boldly theatrical new opera is inspired by composer Justine F. Chen's powerful, complicated grandmother, matriarch of seven daughters. An exploration of the discordant legacy of bitterness and resilience A-Ma passes down to subsequent generations, Seven Sisters veers from the sublime awkwardness of caustic satire to wildly lyrical moments of emotional expansion via sounds ranging from the glamour of old Hollywood and 1950s Chinese cinema to Taiwanese folk music, Chinese Opera and kinetic, pulsating contemporary rhythms. This unflinching, epic, funny exploration of the dysfunctions of family and the fallout of growing up Taiwanese-American and female, looks at the hard truths of a culture that demeans and disempowers women and asks: How does the next generation move beyond this legacy, bridging a cultural chasm that privileges silence?