However, this innovative new opera reworks the original to empower Asian characters instead of Westerners, while the sexist tropes in the opera are addressed through gender fluidity.
Experience the familiar themes of love, betrayal and self-deception from a new perspective in this UK premiere by the BBC Symphony Orchestra with BBC Singers, under the baton of Taiwan’s Carolyn Kuan.
‘The big picture is this kind of imbalance between East and West, and the smaller picture is the interplay of male and female, and Asians being treated as subhuman. That is entirely reversed in M. Butterfly,’ Ruo told the New York Times.
The composer is renowned for using innovative elements in his works: sound installation, experimental improvisation, and a filmic sensibility.
Huang Ruo’s M. Butterfly
25 Oct, 7.30pm, Hall
