Bound

Composer
At Seattle Opera in 2022/23: Composer & Conductor, Bound

Hometown: Hainan Island, China
Seattle Opera Debut
Engagements: Composer, M. Butterfly (Santa Fe Opera); Composer, The Rift (Washington National Opera); Composer, librettist, and conductor, Book of Mountains and Seas (Prototype Festival, St. Ann’s Warehouse, and Muziekgebouw); Composer, conductor, and co-director, Angel Island (Singapore International Festival of Arts); Composer and librettist, Between Two Lights (Concertgebouw Brugge, De Singel, and Muziekgebouw); Composer, An American Soldier (Perelman Performing Arts Center and Boston Lyric Opera)

Huang Ruo has been lauded by The New Yorker as “one of the world’s leading young composers” and 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. As a member of the new generation of Chinese composers, his goal is not just to mix both Western and Eastern elements, but also to create a seamless, organic integration. Huang Ruo’s diverse compositional works span from orchestra, chamber music, opera, theater, and dance, to cross-genre, sound installation, multi-media, experimental improvisation, folk rock, and film.

Last Updated: November 2022

At Seattle Opera in 2022/23: Librettist, Bound

Hometown: Houston, TX
Seattle Opera Debut
Chu is a storyteller. Originally from Vietnam, his passion for writing led him to the MFA creative writing program at University of Houston. He has written and presented extensively on writing pedagogy, the connection between art and the refugee experience, and nonprofit programming. Currently, Chu is the Program Director of Arts and Parks at Houston Endowment where he oversees the grants strategy to support and grow Houston’s arts, culture, and parks ecosystem. He collaborates with artists and community leaders toward a shared vision of a vibrant city with abundant opportunities to create and connect. The power of art to share and connect human stories inspires his work. Chu’s poems and essays have been published in several anthologies, including The New Anthology of American Poetry: Postmodernisms 1950–Present and From Both Sides Now: The Poetry of the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath. His libretto for the opera Bound, composed by Huang Ruo, premiered in Houston in 2014 and in New York in 2019.

Last Updated: December 2022

At Seattle Opera in 2022/23: Stage Director, Bound

Hometown: Seattle, WA
Seattle Opera Debut
Engagements: Stage Director, Fearless: A Workshop Presentation (Opera Delaware); Young Americans (Portland Center Stage & Pittsburgh Public Theater); Cinderella (Village Theatre); And So That Happened… (5th Avenue Theatre); Our Town (Asolo Repertory Theatre); The Winter’s Tale (Seattle Rep)

Last Updated: March 2023

At Seattle Opera in 2022/23: Scenic Designer, Bound

Hometown: Portland, OR
Seattle Opera Debut: Cinderella (’77)
Previously at Seattle Opera: Orpheus and Eurydice (’22); Madame Butterfly (’89); Abduction from the Seraglio (’82); Fidelio (’80)
Engagements: Scenic Designer, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Indiana Repertory Theatre); Sweeney Todd (Theatre Under the Stars, Houston); Something's Afoot (5th Avenue Theatre); The World Transformed (Portland Chinatown Museum & Seattle Children's Theatre); Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson - Apt. 2B (Portland Center Stage); Hello, Dolly! (Village Theatre)

Last Updated: March 2023

At Seattle Opera in 2022/23: Costume Designer, Bound

Hometown: Seattle, WA
Seattle Opera Debut: The Marriage of Figaro (’09)
Previously at Seattle Opera: A Thousand Splendid Suns (’23); The Turn of the Screw (’19), Beatrice and Benedict (’18); An American Dream (’15); Lucia di Lammermoor (’10)
Recently: The Crucible, Dracula, and Mr. Burns – A Post Electric Play (ACT Theatre); A Dolls House part 2, True West, and The Hound of the Baskervilles (Seattle Repertory Theatre)

Last updated: April 2023

Lighting Designer
At Seattle Opera in 2022/23: Bound

Hometown: Seattle, WA
Seattle Opera Debut
Engagements: King John (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Selling Kabul (Seattle Rep); The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window (Williams Project & Intiman Theatre); 36 yeses (Cornerstone Theater Company); Let It Happen (Seattle Rep); Father Comes Home from the Wars Parts I, II, & III (University of Washington School of Drama)

Last Updated: November 2022