AAAYA and H4A Lunch Reception for SF Opera "The Monkey King"

On Sunday 11/16 from 11:00AM - 2:00PM , the Association of Asian American Yale Alumni NorCal and Harvard Asian American Alumni Alliance-Bay Area hosted a fireside chat lunch reception with the Director, Diane Paulus, and General Director of the SF Opera Company, Matthew Shivlock, before the world premiere run of THE MONKEY KING, a new opera by composer Huang Ro and Librettist, David Henry Hwang.

Held in the San Francisco Asian Art Museum’s Samsung Hall, event hosts Wendy Hanamura and Jenny Mei welcomed more than 100 Asian American Alumni of Harvard and Yale along with a wonderful community of family, friends, and opera enthusiasts.  Prior to the talk, guests enjoyed a catered lunch from Asian Box with a wide range of food and drink selections.

The museum’s CEO and Director, Dr. Soyoung Lee, set the scene and invited those assembled to take in the diverse offerings of the museum.

Performer, vocalist, scholar, Sidney Chen, then moderated an hour-long exploration of the evolution of this major new operatic work. Paulus shared her early motivations and Shivlock shared his vision for new works that bridge continents. The pre-opera talk was thoughtful, insightful and inspiring, setting up the audience to fully partake of the premiere of SF Opera’s The Monkey King.

We thank those who joined us for this wonderful event and look forward to future events to come!

FULL VIDEO AVAILABLE HERE: https://archive.org/details/themonkeykingcreatorstalk