The opulent beauties of 18th-century China are about to come to life in San Francisco.
With the world premiere of Bright Sheng’s “Dream of the Red Chamber,” Cao Xueqin’s epic Chinese novel is now an enticing new work for the opera stage. Composed by Sheng, with an English libretto by Sheng and acclaimed playwright David Henry Hwang, the opera makes its world premiere in a San Francisco Opera production Sept. 10 at the War Memorial Opera House. The production is conducted by George Manahan and directed by Stan Lai, with lavish sets and costumes by Academy Award-winning designer Tim Yip.
It’s a monumental effort — Cao’s novel, considered one of the great works of Chinese literature, spans five volumes and nearly 3,000 pages. “Redology” scholars spend entire careers studying this literary masterpiece, which chronicles the triumphs and trials of the aristocratic Jia clan.
“I’ve been a fan of the novel for a long time,” says Sheng, who was born in Taiwan and divides his time between China and the U.S. “I was about 12 years old when I first read it, during the Cultural Revolution, when the novel was banned.”
Throughout his career, Sheng — a professor of composition at the University of Michigan whose works include the opera “Madame Mao” — often contemplated adapting Cao’s tome. He was thrilled when San Francisco Opera’s then-general director David Gockley, at the suggestion of Minnesota’s Chinese Heritage Foundation, commissioned him to write the opera.
He acknowledges that the task was daunting. “The novel has 120 chapters and is at least twice as long as ‘War and Peace,'” says Sheng. “But as I was approaching the sixth decade of my life, I thought if anyone could do this, I would be at the right moment to take on the challenge.”
Sheng’s first choice of partners was Hwang, whose work spans theater and opera. Best known as the playwright of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “M. Butterfly,” Hwang is also a frequent librettist for composers such as Philip Glass.
Despite Sheng’s enthusiasm, Hwang hesitated. “Initially, I turned down the project,” the playwright recalls. “I thought it was an impossible task.”
Sheng won him over, and the two men began crafting the opera’s outline — a job that required cutting many of the novel’s subplots and secondary characters. “Fortunately, Bright had a vision of how to do it,” says Hwang. “We ended up focusing on the central love triangle that runs through the epic.”
The principal characters are the young nobleman Bao Yu (sung by tenor Yijie Shi), his beloved Dai Yu (soprano Pureum Jo), and the beautiful heiress Bao Chai (mezzo-soprano Irene Roberts.)
Their story has an otherworldly dimension, notes Hwang — Bao Yu and Dai Yu begin the opera as the Divine Stone and the Crimson Pearl Flower, ethereal beings who long to become human.
“This adds a spiritual frame to the opera,” says Hwang. “The Stone and the Flower wish to be incarnated as humans to experience love. This is one of the opera’s philosophical questions: ‘Is love possible in the material world?'”
Set against the central love story is “the intrigue,” says Hwang, “that results in the fall of a great family, one that represents the pinnacle of wealth and sophistication in old society. It’s about a reversal of fortune that is very ‘Downton Abbey’-like.”
Taiwan-based director and playwright Lai agrees that the novel’s reversal of fortune is essential to the opera. “It’s the Buddhist theme of impermanence,” he says, “how riches and wealth can go in an instant.”
With sets and costumes by Yip, whose art direction for Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” won an Academy Award, Lai says the opera illuminates the opulence of the Jia clan’s world.
“This is essential to showing what ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ is about,” says the director, “this sophisticated lifestyle of the Qing dynasty which remains today. It’s very much a part of the Chinese legacy.”
According to Manahan, Sheng captures the drama in brilliant musical language. The conductor, who has premiered dozens of new works, says Sheng’s score is a knockout.
“It’s big, gorgeous writing,” says Manahan. “One of the things I’ve always liked about Bright’s music is the clarity of it. It’s certainly challenging, but there’s great momentum there. He’s a master orchestrator.”
Last week, it was announced that Sheng’s opera will make its Asian premiere at the Hong Kong Arts Festival in March 2017. With the world premiere fast approaching in San Francisco, the “Dream” team is fully engaged.
“It’s gripping,” says Lai. “I’ve always considered myself an objective director. I try to keep my distance and be very calm when I’m directing. But the music just grabs you.”
‘DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER’
World premiere opera by Bright Sheng, with libretto by Sheng and David Henry Hwang; in English, with English and Chinese supertitles; presented by San Francisco Opera
When: Saturday through Sept. 29
Where: War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco
Tickets: $26-$417, $10 standing room tickets on sale the day of each performance; 415-864-3330, www.sfopera.com.