Opera Boston presents Madame White Snake, an opera by composer Zhou Long and librettist Cerise Lim Jacobs, based on a beloved ancient Chinese legend.

Madame White Snake is a classical transformation myth of a powerful white snake demon who transforms into a beautiful woman to experience love. She meets her true love, Xu Xian (sung by tenor Peter Tantsits), at the Broken Bridge on the West Lake in Hangzhou, a sister city to Boston.

Madame White Snake is one of just four world premieres by U.S. opera companies in the 2009-10 season. Opera Boston Music Director Gil Rose conducts. RoBert Woodruff directs. Soprano Ying Huang sings the title role, and male soprano Michael Maniaci sings the role of Xiao Qing. Scenic and costume design are by David Zinn. Projections and video design are by Peter Nigrini. Lighting design is by Mark Barton. Also featured is the Premier Choir of the Boston Children's Chorus, under the direction of Anthony Trecek-King. Making their Opera Boston debut, the Premier Choir is an elite group of 12-18 year-olds with a high level of musical skill. Madame White Snake will be sung in English with English and Chinese titles. All performances feature a free talk one hour before curtain, and the Sunday matinee will be followed by an artist talkback.

The orchestration for Madame White Snake features both Western and traditional Chinese instruments. The erhu, a two-stringed instrument played with a bow, is colloquially called the Chinese fiddle. Wang Guowei will play the erhu. A New York-based musician, he is among the most well-known players of the instrument in the United States. The orchestration also includes two traditional flutes, to be played by Hong Wang - the bamboo flute and the xun, a wind instrument made of clay that is similar to the ocarina. Wang is a renowned multi-instrumentalist and co-founder of Melody of China, a professional San Francisco ensemble that performs Chinese classical, folk, and contemporary music.

After the Boston premiere, Madame White Snake travels to China to close the Beijing Music Festival in October 2010. Planning has begun to bring Madame White Snake to other Asian cities following Beijing.

"We are very proud to announce this major opera commission and multi-cultural production, Madame White Snake by Zhou Long and Cerise Lim Jacobs," said Charnow. "This project marks many historic firsts- Opera Boston's first major commission, our first collaboration with an international music organization and, perhaps most significantly, the first collaboration between the Beijing Music Festival and an American Opera Company. This project marks the first time that an Opera Boston production will be presented internationally."

About Opera Boston

Opera Boston is Boston's most innovative opera company. Founded in 1980, the company has presented more than 70 operas, including 34 regional and two world premieres. In addition to its critically acclaimed, award-winning main stage productions, Opera Boston offers a range of programs, including a chamber opera festival, a popular cabaret series and an educational program in Boston-area schools. For more information about Opera Boston, visit www.operaboston.org.

About Beijing Music Festival

The Beijing Music Festival's (BMF) mission is to promote the musical life in Beijing by organizing annual festivals and providing musical performances by artists of the highest caliber. The month-long Festival has been held every year since the fall of 1998, presenting 30 world-class performances each season. World renowned artists such as Jose Carreras, Valery Gergiev, Fou Ts'ong, Simon Rattle, Christoph Eschenbach, Lang Lang, Jian Wang and Yo-Yo Ma have all performed at the Festival. For more information about Beijing Music Festival, visit www.bimfa.org.

Editor: Xie Fang

This is an excerpt from an article of same title by BWW News Desk