2020
Performance and Workshop
Dream of the Red Chamber: The Collaborative Study and Operatic Premiere of a Classic
University of Minnesota, 2021-2023
Principal Investigator(s): Ann Waltner, University of Minnesota; with Christine Marran, University of Minnesota; Mark Russsell Smith, University of Minnesota, Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies; Pearl Lam Bergad, Chinese Heritage FoundationThe award helped fund educational activities related to a performance at the University of Minnesota of a new, shorter, semi-staged version of the English-language opera Dream of the Red Chamber, of which a fully-staged version premiered in 2016. These educational activities included workshops with the composer, librettist, conductor, director, and choreographer that illuminated the textual and musical transformations of the opera, and utilized local resources, such as the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s holdings of Chinese art and opera costumes. Other projects included a course on the novel and its adaptations, and seminars on related topics.