Opera on A Dream of Red Mansions

David Gockley, artistic director of San Francisco Opera, on a recent visit to Beijing. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

In March 2007, when David Gockley, the artistic director of San Francisco Opera, visited Beijing, he went to the National Center for the Performing Arts, which was still under construction. He was simply curious to see the site.

Earlier this month, Gockley visited the NCPA again, this time to attend the World Opera Forum. He watched the premiere of Sunrise, an original Chinese opera commissioned by the NCPA.

The venue's grand architecture impressed him, he says, but so did the performers - soloists, chorus and orchestra.

"The big change is how quickly the NCPA has grown into a major player promoting opera. Chinese artists take great pride in their own opera, not following the style of Europeans and (they want) to have their voice," says the 72-year-old, once described by The New York Times as the man who "shaped the destiny of opera in America".

In an interview with China Daily, he recalls his visit to the NCPA eight years ago, describing how he had to walk through puddles in the parking lot to get to the theater area that was being built. Portions of the floor hadn't been laid with marble and the seats of the theater weren't in place.

But even then, "it was clear that it was an amazing facility and had impressive architecture", Gockley says.

During his latest visit, Gockley introduced plans for a new opera by his company, calling it "groundbreaking".

He has commissioned Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang, Chinese-American composer Bright Sheng, Taiwan director Stan Lai and Taiwan designer Tim Yip to distill Dream of the Red Chamber into a three-hour opera, which will have its world premiere in fall 2016. The operatic work is based on the Chinese classic novel A Dream of Red Mansions.

Written by Cao Xueqin in the 18th century, the book centers on the tragic love story of Jiao Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, and the ups and downs of an influential family during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

The composing team will share the story of the opera's creation at a three-day symposium, beginning on Monday at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.