On Gold Mountain
World premiere in Los Angeles
By Sam Chu Lin

This week the Los Angeles Opera presents the world premiere of On Gold Mountain, based on Lisa See’s national best-selling book about her Chinese American family. See, who is the opera’s librettist, hopes people will start thinking about their own family history after they see this production.

“All of us in America came from somewhere,” she said. “All of us in our families had someone, a man, a woman or both, who had the courage, the fortitude, or some crazy idea to leave their home and come here to the United States. We all share those tragedies, the triumphs, the successes, the burdens, moving from being immigrants to becoming Americans.”

On Gold Mountain, the opera, compresses 100 years of See’s family history into 90 minutes of music. Chinese instruments mix with the sounds of violins, percussion and brass. At one moment Chinese opera is heard; the next, it’s a waltz, swing or ragtime.

The story begins with Fong See, her great grandfather, who comes to America in search of his herbalist father. While in the United States, he discovers Ticie, a Caucasian woman, with whom he falls in love. The two wed and start a family at a time when California didn’t permit biracial marriages.

The Los Angeles Opera through its Voices of California program is underwriting the creation of three new operas to celebrate California’s rich multicultural heritage. On Gold Mountain is the first to be produced.

“We need to bring out the positive aspects of Asian Americans,” said the opera’s composer Nathan Wang, “and I think this is something that everybody can be proud of. It’s new. It’s contemporary, and I don’t think it’s been done in opera that we’ve fused so much Chinese music and Asian influences into a mainstream opera, and I am very, very proud of that.”

Shana Blake Hill, who is cast as Ticie, is a member of the Los Angeles Opera Company. Wong is a tenor from San Francisco and portrays Fong See. Wong immigrated to the United States from Shanghai four years ago to study music.

“I think it’s a great opportunity in my learning process,” he said. “I’m also learning something very powerful about race, the background as to where we came from. I’m definitely gaining a lot of confidence being here.”

Seeing so many talented API singers and musicians is a welcome surprise for On Gold Mountain’s director Andrew Tsao, whose television credits include Friends, Home Improvement, and Caroline in the City.

“When LA Opera opened the doors, this wealth of Asian talent poured into the theater,” Tsao reflected. “A few years ago, it might have been an impossible show to cast.”

He added, “The great legacy is for our next generation of children to look up and see a whole theater full of Asian artists and say, ‘I can do that too.’”