Chinese Massacre of 1871

Los Angeles, California

The Seascape ⽔景如苔千⾥曲

⽔景如苔千⾥曲， 陸路無涯路步難。 平⾵到埠⼼如是， 安樂誰知住⽊樓。

The seascape resembles lichen twisting and turning for a thousand li. There is no shore to land, and it is difficult to walk. With a gentle breeze I arrived at the city thinking all would be so. At ease, how was one to know he was to live in a wooden building?

The Page Act of 1875

Hong Kong

When We Bade Farewell 離別故鄉

離別故鄉，頻洒窮途之淚。 躬到美域， 徒觀海⽔之汪洋。 船泊碼頭， 轉撥埃崙之孤島。 離埠⼗⾥， 托⾜孤峯。 三層⽊屋， 堅如萬⾥⻑城。 幾座監牢， ⻑扃北⾨管鑰。

When we bade farewell to our village home, we were in tears because of survival's desperation. When we arrived in the American territory, we stared in vain at the vast ocean. Our ship docked and we were transferred to a solitary island. Ten li from the city, my feet stand on this lonely hill. The muk uk is three stories high, Built as firmly as the Great Wall. Room after room are but jails, and the North Gate firmly locked. 

同胞數百，難期漏網之⿂， ⿈種半千，恍若密羅之雀。 有時舉頭⽽眺， 胡笳互動，益增惆悵之悲。 或者傾⽿⽽聽， 牧⾺悲鳴，翻惹淒涼之感。 

Here several hundreds of my countrymen are like fish caught in a net; half a thousand Yellow Race are like birds trapped in a mesh. As we lift our heads and look afar, the barbarian reed pipes add all the more to our anguish and grief. As we cock our ears and try to listen, the horses' neighing further worsens our solitude and sorrow. 

嗟！嗟！ 觸景⽣情， 荒涼滿⽬。 愁誰遣此; 命也何如？ 尤有慘者，診脉數回，無病宛然有病; 驗⾝數次，裹⾝⼀若裸⾝。 借問昊天，使我奚⾄此極？ 哀哉吾輩，然亦無如之何。

Alas! Heaven! So desolate is this sight; It is disheartening indeed. Sorrow and hardship have led me to this place; what more can I say about life? Worse yet, a healthy person would become ill after repeated medical examinations; a private inspection would render a clothed person naked. Let me ask you, the barbarians: Why are you treating us in such an extreme way? I grieve for my fellow countrymen; there is really nothing we can do! 

雖削南⼭之⾼⽵，寫不盡離騷之詞。 竭東海之波流，洗不淨羞慙之狀。 然或者，狄庭⾏酒，晉愍不辭⻘⾐之羞 漢軍降奴，李陵曾作椎⼼之訴。 古⼈如此， 今⼈獨不忍乎？ 夫事窮勢迫，亦復何⾔？ 藏器待時，徒空想像。 

All the tall bamboo from Zhongnan Mountain cannot bear our words of frustration. All the water in the Eastern Sea will not cleanse our sense of humiliation. Perhaps, we can be.  Like Emperor Min of Jin, who didn't reject the shame of wearing blue garb and serving wine, like Li Ling, who pounded his chest in agony for his Han army surrendering to the Huns. Our ancestors have encountered such misfortune.  Why does our present generation endure the same? In a moment of desperation, what more can one say? In waiting with concealed weapons for the right moment to arrive. It is nothing but pure fantasy. 

鳴呼！ ⽩種強權， ⿈魂受慘， ⽐喪家之狗，強⼊牢籠; 追⼊笠之豚，嚴加鎖鑰。 魂消雪窖，眞⽝⾺之不如。 淚洒冰天，傷禽⿃之不若也。 

Alas, such tyranny of the White Race! Such tragedy of the Yellow Souls! Like a homeless dog forced into a confining cage, like a trapped pig held in a bamboo cage, our spirits are lost in this wintry prison; we are worse than horses and cattle. Our tears shed on an icy day, we are less than the birds and fowl. 

良可慨也 尚忍⾔哉？ 

We are filled with grief. How can we suppress our cries? 

“THE CHINESE INVASION! They Are Coming, 900,000 Strong.” August 27, 1873

(INTRODUCTION from The Chinese Invasion: Revealing the Habits, Manners, and Customs of the Chinese by Henry Josiah West, 1873)

San Francisco Bay Area, California

Buried Beneath Clay and Earth 噩耗傳聞實可哀

噩耗傳聞實可哀， 弔君何⽇裹屍回？ 無能瞑⽬憑誰訴？ 有識應知悔此來。 千古含愁千古恨， 思鄉空對望鄉臺。 未酬壯志埋壞⼟， 知爾雄⼼死不灰。 

Shocking news, truly sad, reached my ears. We mourn you. When will they wrap your corpse for return? You cannot close your eyes. On whom are you depending to voice your complaints? If you had foresight, you should have regretted coming here. Now you will be forever sad and forever resentful. Thinking of the village, one can only futilely face the Terrace for Gazing Homeward. Before you could fulfill your lofty goals, you were buried beneath clay and earth. I know that even death could not destroy your ambition.  

The Last Chinaman from the Titanic

North Atlantic Ocean
Ellis Island, New York

The Ocean Encircles a Lone Peak 滄海圍孤峰

滄海圍孤峰，崎嶇困牢籠。鳥疏寒山緻，鴻使莫尋蹤。留難經半載，仇恨積滿容。今將歸國去，空勞精衛功。

The ocean encircles a lone peak,
Rough terrain surrounds this prison.
There are few birds flying over the cold hills,
The wild goose messenger cannot find its way.
I have been detained and obstacles have been put in my way for half a year,
Melancholy and hate gather on my face.
Now that I must return to my country,
I have toiled like the Jing-wei bird in vain.

Huang Ruo has been lauded by The New York Times for having “a distinctive style.” His vibrant and inventive musical voice draws equal inspiration from Chinese ancient and folk music, Western avant-garde, experimental, noise, natural and processed sound, rock, and jazz to create a seamless, organic integration using a compositional technique he calls “Dimensionalism.” Huang Ruo’s diverse compositional works span from orchestra, chamber music, opera, theater, and dance, to cross-genre, sound installation, architectural installation, multimedia, experimental improvisation, folk rock, and film. His music has been performed by the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Evelenad Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Royal Danish Opera, Asko/Schoenberg, Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta. He has written 9 operas including M. Butterfly, Book of Mountains and Seas, Angel Island, and An American Soldier, which was named one of the best classical music events in 2018 by The New York Times. He served as the first composer-in-residence for Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam. Huang Ruo was born in Hainan Island, China in 1976—the year the Chinese Cultural Revolution ended. Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s when China was opening its gate to the Western world, his education expanded from Bach, Mozart, Stravinsky, and Lutoslawski, to include the Beatles, rock and roll, heavy metal, and jazz. Huang Ruo is a composition faculty at the Mannes School of Music. Huang Ruo’s music is published by EAM/Schott. huangruo.com

Matthew Ozawa is a stage director, executive leader, artistic director, and educator who has firmly cemented himself as one of the preeminent creative forces in the opera world today. Most recently, Ozawa was appointed as the Chief Artistic Administration Officer at Lyric Opera of Chicago, a new role that will oversee all of Lyric’s artistic planning, processes, and activities. As a stage director, Ozawa is known as a master storyteller, whose “strikingly spare productions” (The New York Times) are “a vivid demonstration of what opera is all about” (Opera News). His productions consistently “deliver brilliance on all fronts” (Chicago Tribune) and are filled with “breathtaking imagery” (Broadway World). Passionate about collaborative interdisciplinary performance, new work, and reigniting classics, Ozawa’s “stylish” and “intelligent” new productions have been seen at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, and Santa Fe Opera among many others. Committed to new and modern work, recent new production highlights include Ruo / Huang’s An American Soldier (Opera Theatre of St. Louis), Perla / Murphy’s An American Dream (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Aucoin’s Second Nature (Lyric Opera of Chicago), and Hanlon / Fleischmann’s After The Storm (Houston Grand Opera). matthewozawa.com

Rena Butler hails from Chicago, IL. She began her studies at The Chicago Academy for the Arts, studied overseas at Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan, and received her BFA from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance. Rena danced with companies including Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, AIM by Kyle Abraham, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, David Dorfman Dance, The Kevin Wynn Collection, Pasos Con Sabor Salsa Dance Company, and Gibney Company.

She is a recipient of the prestigious 2019 Princess Grace Foundation Award for Choreography and created works for National Ballet of Canada, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, San Francisco Opera's Orpheus and Euridice, Norrdans in Sweden, Charlotte Ballet, The Lyric Opera of Chicago, The New Orleans Museum of Modern Art, a film portrait for Third Coast Percussion x Devonté Hynes/Blood Orange, Oregon Ballet Theater, The Juilliard School, Oklahoma City Ballet, TEDxChicago Virtual Salon 3.0: Design Your Life, and more. She has been spotlighted in Dance Magazine’s On The Rise feature in 2013, and the featured cover story for Dance Magazine’s November 2021 issue.

Butler served on the Consortium for Chicago Dancemakers Forum and currently serves on Dancewave’s Artistic Advisory Council in NYC. renabutler.com

Riw Rakkulchon (pronounced Ree-you) is a Set & Costume Designer, Animator, and Chef from Bangkok, Thailand.

He/They has worked at Yale Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, The Old Globe, Drury Lane Theatre, Asolo Rep, The Acting Company, 59E59, Edinburgh Fringe, Primary Stages, Hartford Stage, The Public Theatre, amongst others. Broadway Associate Set Design: Pass Over, &Juliet, Parade

He/They also works with designers Wilson Chin, Riccardo Hernandez, Jason Ardizzone-West, Donyale Werle, Santo Loquasto, Dane Laffrey, Clint Ramos, and Walt Spangler. Board member of WithAll, a non-profit Organization on a fight to end eating disorders. Member of 829 United Scenic Artists. @riwrdesign | Riwrdesign.com

Ashley Soliman is a costume designer and visual artist based in NYC, selected as one of Broadway Women’s Fund 2023 “Women to Watch on Broadway". Her creative practices are rooted in the language of color, the physical manifestation of inner worlds, and a mindset of collaboration and connection. Angel Island marks her debut with both Beth Morrison Projects and Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Upcoming: The Cunning Little Vixen (Curtis Institute). Credits: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Manhattan School of Music), Der Schauspieldirektor & I due timidi (Juilliard), REDEEMED & Your Name Means Dream (CATF), Double Helix (Bay Street Theater), Idomeneo (NYU Steinhardt), Le portrait de Manon & Angélique (Manhattan School of Music), Faust et Hélène & L'heure espagnole (New Camerata Opera), The Rake’s Progress (Juilliard), La Traviata (Fort Worth Opera), Do You Love The Dark? (The Alliance), Sweet Potato Kicks The Sun (Santa Fe Opera). As ACD: Coal Country (The Public, des. Jessica Jahn). Honors: Fatty Fatty No Friends (NYC Fringe Festival “Best Costumes”, NYITA nomination), Whiskey Pants (“Best Costumes”, Frigid Fest). BFA Fine Arts & Printmaking, SVA. Proud member of USA Local 829. terribleboogie.com

Previously designed with Beth Morrison Projects for the Prototype Festival: Blood Moon (Baruch Performing Arts Center). Previously designed with Matthew Ozawa: Orpheus and Eurydice (San Francisco Opera), Madame Butterfly (Cincinnati Opera, Detroit Opera). Recent and Upcoming include: EUROPERAS: 3 & 4 (Detroit Opera); Émigré (New York Philharmonic); Fidelio (Canadian Opera Company); VALIS (MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology); L'Orfeo (Santa Fe Opera); Proving Up (Juilliard Opera); In a Grove (Pittsburgh Opera). She was born in Tokyo, grew up in Kyoto, Japan and currently lives north of NYC in the woods of Hudson Valley.  M.F.A.: NYU. yukinlink.com 

Bill Morrison has been called “the poet laureate of lost films” (The New York Times, Sep 21, 2021), as he often makes films that reframe long-forgotten moving images. He has premiered feature-length films at the New York, Sundance, Telluride, and Venice film festivals. He is best known for his found footage opus Decasia, 2002, and for the doc Dawson City: Frozen Time, 2016. Morrison has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Alpert Award, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. He had a mid-career retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art in 2014. As a projection designer, Morrison has produced films to accompany theatrical and music performance for over 30 different productions since 1990. His work in live performance has been recognized with two Obies and a Bessie Award for theatrical design.

This is his third collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects (Katrina Ballads, 2010, Soldier Songs, 2014) and his sixth appearance at BAM Next Wave (The New Yorkers, 2003, Shelter, 2005, Lightning at our feet, 2008, Persephone, 2010, and The Shooting Gallery, 2012). Recent projection design credits include John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra, which premiered at San Francisco Opera in 2022, and was remounted at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, in 2023. Billmorrisonfilm.com

Angela Baughman is a multidisciplinary sound designer who loves to explore the spaces between music and noise. Her work spans over 80 musicals and plays, as well as film, radio, concerts, and studio recording. Selected design credits: pleytem tsuzamen, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene; School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play, Pittsburgh Public Theater; The Birds, 12 Peers Theater (awarded Broadway World Pittsburgh’s Sound Design of the Decade); The Clearing (awarded Best Sci-Fi Feature, 2021 London Independent Film Festival); “We Are Nature,” a VR experience by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History; and monitor engineering for jazz legends touring through MCG Jazz. BM, Berklee College of Music. Thatsoundgirl.com

Working mostly around the dance world and performing arts for almost 15 years; Jacob's Pillow (Operations and Production Manager); Richmond Ballet (Assistant Technical Director); Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet (Technical Director); New York City Ballet (Assistant Technical Director); Brooklyn Academy of Music (Production Coordinator). Outside of production, Tony has a BS in Geographic Information Science with an interest in conservation and resiliency of natural resources.

Alyssa K. Howard is a NYC-based stage manager, as well as a musician, writer, and project manager. Recent credits include: Poor Yella Rednecks (MTC), Paradise Ballroom (New York Stage And Film), The Refocus Project (Roundabout Theatre), Lady M (Heartbeat Opera), Public Obscenities (Soho Rep), The Far Country (Atlantic Theater Company), Black Lodge (Beth Morrison Projects), Once Upon A (korean) Time (Ma-Yi Theater), Golden Shield (MTC), Wolf Play (Soho Rep), Nollywood Dreams (MCC), King Lear (Northern Stage), for colored girls… (Public Theater), If Pretty Hurts...  (Playwrights Horizons), Good Grief (Vineyard Theatre), Henry VI (NAATCO), Teenage Dick (Ma-Yi Theater), Word. Sound. Power. 2016–2021 (BAM), The Echo Drift (Prototype), Glass Guignol (Mabou Mines), Dog Days (Beth Morrison Projects). Other: Page73, National Sawdust, Berkshire Theatre Group, Playwrights Realm, Noor Theatre, Bushwick Starr, 3LD, Mannes Opera, Juilliard School of Vocal Arts, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Orlando Shakespeare Theater. MFA: Yale School of Drama. BA: Williams College. @shiningatthetop

San Francisco’s Del Sol Quartet believes that music can, and should, happen anywhere: screaming out Aeryn Santillan’s Makeshift Memorials from a Mission District sidewalk or a rural high school, bouncing Ben Johnston’s microtonal Americana off the canyon walls of the Yampa River or the hallowed walls of Library of Congress, bringing Huang Ruo’s Angel Island Oratorio home to the island detention barracks or across the Pacific to the Singapore International Arts Festival. Del Sol’s performances provide the possibility for unexpected discovery, sparking dialogue and bringing people together. Since 1992, Del Sol has commissioned hundreds of works by composers including Terry Riley, Tania León, Frederic Rzewski, Vijay Iyer, Mason Bates, Pamela Z, Chinary Ung, Chen Yi, Andy Akiho, Erberk Eryilmaz, Theresa Wong, and Reza Vali. They especially value their ongoing relationship with the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music in Boonville, California. 

Huang Ruo - A Dust in Time, Del Sol’s eleventh album, was described in The New York Times as “excavations of beauty from the elemental.” New Del Sol recordings in 2023 include The Resonance Between, a collaboration with North Indian musicians Alam Khan & Arjun Verma, and SPELLLING and The Mystery School with Oakland magical-futurist pop phenomenon SPELLLING. Delsolquartet.com

Benjamin Freemantle started his training in his hometown of Vancouver, Canada at the Caulfield School of Dance. At 15 years old he was offered a full scholarship to train at the San Francisco Ballet School, later joining the San Francisco Ballet School Trainee Program. He joined the San Francisco Ballet as a member of the Corps de Ballet in 2015, immediately dancing principal roles in original works and full length ballets like Lensky in Onegin. In 2018, Benjamin became a Soloist with the company and was named “25 To Watch” by Dance Magazine. In 2019, he was named Principal Dancer by Helgi Tomasson, after performing work by George Balanchine, Christopher Wheeldon, Jerome Robbins, Trey Mcintyre, Dwight Rhoden, John Neumier, William Forsythe and many more. In 2022, he stepped away from San Francisco Ballet and now pursues an independent artistic career based in New York City. As a professional performer and creative, Benjamin challenges and re-imagines boundaries and possibilities both on the stage and on the screen.

Jie-Hung Connie Shiau is a choreographer, dancer, and educator. She was born in Gainesville, Florida, and raised in Tainan, Taiwan. Shiau has worked as a collaborator with an array of dance companies, including Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, AIM by Kyle Abraham, Gallim Dance, Helen Simoneau Danse, MeenMoves, Adam Barruch/Anatomiae Occultii, and Kevin Wynn Works. Her choreographic work has been presented at New Choreographer Project in Taipei, Taiwan, Loyola University, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago summer intensives, Little Island Dance Festival, SUNY Purchase Spring Concert, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s 43rd Virtual Season. As an artist, Shiau has been recognized as a Chicago Dancemaker Forum Greenhouse Artist in 2019, as one of Dance Magazine’s 2018 “25 To Watch” picks, with an Honorable Mention for the Jadin Wong Award for Emerging Asian American Dancer in 2014, and with a Reverb Dance Festival Dancer Award in 2014. Shiau was the inaugural Choreographic Fellow for the 2022–23 season at Gibney Company. Her dance film Greener Grass was a semi-finalist in the London International Web & Shorts Film Festival in 2021. Shiau is currently a freelancer based in NYC, and an Artistic Associate at Gibney Company.

A highly sought after soprano and recent addition to The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Shabnam Abedi received her Master’s Degree from Juilliard in Jazz Studies making her Juilliard’s first South-Asian American jazz voice graduate. A versatile artist with a reputation for high-level music making in a wide variety of genres, Shabnam also studied opera at Mason Gross School of the Arts. Having played and sung Indian Classical Music since young, Shabnam’s first album Amar Bijon Ghore was released to wide acclaim in South Asia. Shabnam was recognized by The New York Times for her solo in Trinity’s Handel’s Messiah this year, as well as a soloist in Considering Matthew Shepard production, and sang at the New York premiere of Tyshawn Sorey’s Monochromatic Light at the Park Avenue Armory. She is in the Voces8 Foundation’s new treble ensemble Lyyra and her debut jazz album Love Shadows is set to release next year.

Aine Hakamatsuka is a versatile, New York-based Japanese soprano artist whose vocal flexibility and love for collaborative music-making have led her to a career spanning concert, opera, and choral repertoire.

Aine’s versatility is evident on the concert stage, where she has appeared as a soloist in a wide range of repertoire. Last season she sang on a tour of Handel’s Solomon with the Clarion Choir and The English Concert under the baton of Harry Bicket. She was also seen as the soprano soloist for François Couperin’s Leçons de Ténèbres in concert at the historic St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York City in 2022.

A deep love of chamber music has inspired Aine to pursue a career that is equal parts solo and ensemble. In demand as a choral artist, she is a member of the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, and has appeared with Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity, Musica Sacra, the New York Philharmonic, New York Virtuoso Singers, and St. Bartholomew’s Church Choir, in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall, the Met Museum, and many of New York City’s most beloved churches. When she is not performing, Aine enjoys spending time with her two cats Mimi and Momo.

Elena Williamson, soprano and music director, comes to us by way of Greenwich, CT. A graduate of Westminster Choir College, she excelled as a vocalist in church music while applying her skills as a cellist to collaborative continuo and chamber groups. Elena had just begun her Master’s degree in Irvine, California, when she was approached to audition for the conducting department. Much to her surprise, she found it as enjoyable as it was challenging.  She conducted the elite choirs and got podium time in front of the orchestra—this was fun! Then came leading a Renaissance dinner and taking her first directing job at a church in Orange County. Upon her return to the East coast, Elena began to sing professionally and went on to prepare choirs for the New York and LA Philharmonics, working closely with Esa-Pekka Salonen. She was also an off-stage conductor for Grendel at the NY State Theatre, for Lorin Mazel’s presentation of Elektra, and for an onstage performance with The Rolling Stones. She now sings all over the world with The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Voices of Ascension, Artefact, Skylark, Musica Sacra, Tenet, Ghostlight, and Beth Morrison Projects among many others.

Samantha Martin, a Korean-American soprano, is a lover of storytelling in music. An avid supporter of new works, Samantha has premiered and performed pieces by numerous contemporary composers, including Clarice Assad, Michael Csányi-Wills, Daron Hagen, Julianna Hall, John Musto, Györgi Kurtág, Libby Larsen, James Mobberly, as well as workshopping and performing the world premiere of Tom Cipullo’s opera, Mayo, as Miss Goodrich and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Additional opera credits include Lauretta in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Buoso’s Ghost by Michael Ching and Laurie in Copland’s The Tender Land. Named the winner of Bard Conservatory’s 2020 Concerto Competition, she appeared with The Orchestra Now in September 2022 performing George Walker’s Lilacs. During her time at Bard, she also appeared in the Bard Vocal Arts Program’s production of Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium as Monica. Samantha received her Masters from Bard College Conservatory’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program, and her Bachelor of Music majoring in Voice Performance and Music Business from the State University of New York at Potsdam.

Jonathan May is a member of The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, and performs regularly with ensembles such as Ensemble VIII and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street. He was featured as an alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah and in Bach cantatas 64, 150, 165 and 167 at Trinity Wall Street. He most recently appeared as alto soloist in performances of Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion with the Saint Thomas Choir and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street in New York City, and with Bach Roots Festival in Minneapolis. He sang as soloist in cantatas BWV 70, 147 and Bach’s Magnificat with Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity, and was one of the countertenors featured in Gotham Early Music Scene’s Open Gates Project: Countertenors, a Consort, and Continuo.

Additionally, Jonathan has performed with Ekmeles, The New Consort, Early Music New York, Musica Sacra, and American Classical Orchestra, among others. He holds a degree in music from Dartmouth College.

Hai-Ting Chinn is a mezzo soprano with an eclectic career that spans music from medieval to new, and a range of theatrical styles from performance-practice to wildly experimental. She was featured in The Wooster Group’s La Didone, Einstein on the Beach (Philip Glass/Robert Wilson) and in several monodramas written for her, as well as standard operatic, oratorio, and concert repertoire. Hai-Ting is the creator of Science Fair: An Opera With Experiments, and of Astronautica: Voices of Women in Space, based on the words of women astronauts (with Trio Triumphatrix). Of mixed Chinese and Jewish ancestry, Hai-Ting is a native of Northern California and currently resides in New York City.  She holds degrees from the Eastman and Yale Schools of Music. hai-ting.com

Nick Karageorgiou has established himself as a formidable chamber musician and soloist. A resident of Brooklyn, Nick is a member of the Trinity Wall Street Chorus, performing a wide array of choral repertoire, from baroque gems, to new commissions. Last fall, Nick sang the reimagined role of Narrator in Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard.

He can also be heard singing in ensembles like Seraphic Fire, TENET, and Clarion Music Society. Previous engagements have also included ensembles such as Pegasus Early Music Society, True Concord, The Crossing, Spire, The Thirteen, and The Rose Ensemble.

Outside of a busy performance season, Nick is frequently seen with needles and yarn, biking through the park, or going on a hike. Nick is excited to join Beth Morrison Productions this season!

Gregório Taniguchi lends his deep love of language and stylistic prowess to performances of historical and new works alike, illuminating them for modern audiences. As a soloist, he has elevated narratives with his intuitive sense for storytelling as the Evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion, Miles Zegner in Missy Mazzoli's Proving Up, Zadok in Handel’s Solomon, and Tonio in The Industry’s intergalactic choral opera Star Choir. An avid chamber musician, he brings elegance and emotional depth to programs of secular madrigals and sacred works alike including Peter Sellars’s staged production of Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien. 

Gregório has worked with pioneers as well as the next generation scholar-interpreters of early music, and enjoys the alchemy of collaborative ensemble singing, especially with The Art of Early Keyboard (ARTEK), Bach Collegium San Diego, Clarion Vocal Ensemble, New Consort, TENET Vocal Artists, Tesserae, and Washington Bach Consort. 

A passionate advocate for fostering artistic community, Gregório works to uplift diverse contemporary composers in recording new works as a studio singer and faith communities as a choral scholar. He also prioritizes being part of his ecological community, germinating seeds and raising native wildflowers of the places he calls home.

Tenor Zhongjiancheng Deng is from Sichuan, China and is a second-year undergraduate student at The Juilliard School. In 2021 Mr. Deng won the Brozne Award in the China Vocal Peacock Cup, was a finalist in the Sichuan Golden Hibiscus National Vocal Competition, and was a national student representative of the 6th National College Students Art Exhibition in China. In summer 2023 Mr. Deng participated in Glenn Morton’s Classic Lyric Arts program in Novafeltria, Italy. In the summer of 2024, Mr. Deng will play the role of Raimondo in I Due Timidi at Chautauqua Conservatory.

Critically acclaimed bass Paul Chwe MinChul An has originated over 20 operatic roles, in addition to performing over 60 roles in the canon in a career spanning two decades.

As an operatic basso cantante, he has recently performed works from Monteverdi, Mozart, Verdi to Meredith Monk with companies such as LA Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Nashville Opera, and Park Ave Armory.

As an oratorio soloist, he has performed the works of early to contemporary masters with such groups as the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, and Ensemble viii in venues ranging from school gyms to Carnegie Hall. 

Although MinChul does not consider himself fixed to one genre, he particularly revels in the collaborative process of originating roles. He is lucky to call giants like Meredith Monk, Kamala Sankaram, Ellen Reid, Yuval Sharon, James Darrah, Julian Wachner, Beth Morrison, Kristin Marting, and Alex Gedeon, his friends and collaborators.

Adjacent to the stage, Paul Chwe MinChul An is working to carve out space for underrepresented artists. As a board member of Overtone Industries, as well as member of the Queens Voice Lab, he is joining other beautiful and powerful voices to decolonize and raise communities.

Acclaimed for his “sterling performances” (Washington Post) and “range, agility, and expressive storytelling ability” (Monterey Herald), baritone Brian Chu has established himself as a versatile interpreter of music from the Baroque to the 21st century. An oratorio specialist, he has soloed with the King’s Noyse, Brandywine Baroque, the Dryden Ensemble, Piffaro, Portland Baroque, and Washington Bach Consort, with repeat appearances in the title role of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, the Bach Passions, Haydn’s Creation, Brahms and Mozart Requiems, and Handel’s Messiah on three continents. Other credits include Orff’s Carmina Burana, Finzi’s In terra pax, Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. His signature roles include Marcello (La Bohème), the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, and Figaro (The Barber of Seville), and he was heard most recently in the title role of Anton Rubinstein’s The Demon. An advocate for contemporary vocal music, cited for his “vocal and interpretive confidence” (Philadelphia Inquirer) with Network for New Music, he has collaborated with such composers as Aaron Jay Kernis, Lori Laitman, Daniel Asia, and Steven Stucky. He has given recitals at Merkin and Weill Halls, the Phillips Collection (Washington), and as a US Embassy Cultural Artist in Austria and West Africa.

Enrico Lagasca is a Filipino-American bass-baritone. In 2022–23 season, Enrico sings bass solos in Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass with Voices of Ascension; Handel's Messiah at Ann Arbor's University Musical Society and at Carnegie Hall with Musica Sacra; Bach's Christmas Oratorio at Washington Bach Consort; Mendelssohn's Walpurgisnacht with the St. Louis Symphony; Joby Talbot's Path of Miracles; Craig Johnson's Considering Matthew Shepard; as well as ensembles in Tyshawn Sorey’s Monochromatic Light (afterlight) directed by Peter Sellers at the Park Avenue Armory and the New York Philharmonic’s premiere of Julia Wolfe’s multi-media unEarth.

A graduate of New York’s Mannes School of Music, Enrico lives in New York City with his domestic partner. He is a member of the Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, which is dedicated to diversity and social justice.

Wai Ching Ho was born and raised in Hong Kong and speaks fluent Cantonese and Mandarin. She resides in New York City. A veteran of the stage, her select NY credits include Snow in Midsummer (Classic Stage Company); Endlings (New York Theatre Workshop); Henry VI (NAATCO); No Foreigners Beyond This Point (MaYi) and Joy Luck Club (Pan Asian Rep). Regionally she had worked extensively with prestigious theatre companies such as the American Repertory Theatre, Steppenwolf, Long Wharf, Denver Center of Performing Arts, The Goodman Theatre, Palo Theatre Theatre Works and the Lookingglass Theatre. Her film credits include Hustlers, in which she played opposite Jennifer Lopez, and Sorcerer's Apprentice, starring Nick Cage. In 2003 she won best actress award for her performance in Robot Stories in the Si-Fi Film Festivals in Madrid, St Louis and Puchon, S. Korea. She voiced the character of Grandma in Turning Red, a 2023 Oscar nominated animated film. Her television credits include New Amsterdam, Awkwafina is Nora from Queens, and all four series of Law & Order. She appeared in numerous

episodes as Madame Gao in Marvel’s Daredevil, Iron Fist, and The Defenders.

Marc Kudisch has been a uniquely creative powerhouse on Broadway, Modern Opera, Television and Film for the past 30 years, most recently wrapping up his costarring turn in Girl from the North Country, his 15th Broadway show.

He has been nominated for the Tony Award three times, as Trevor Graydon in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Baron Bomburst in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Franklin Hart in 9 to 5, and is a Drama Desk Award winner for his work Off Broadway in The Wayside Motor Inn. 

And when not onstage, Marc can be seen on the big and small screens on such projects as Brian Koppelman and David Levine’s Billions, David Fincher’s Mindhunter, Steven Soderbergh’s Unsane, Mindy Kaling’s Late Night and Ben Englund’s The Tick.