Zhou Long was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for the opera Madame White Snake. The piece premiered on February 26, 2010 at Opera Boston.
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4 responses to “2011 Pulitzer Prize for Music”
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First, congratulations to Zhou Long for winning this prize. I’m happy (and surprised) to see the Pulitzer jury recognizing that opera is still alive and kicking.
I’ve heard only snippets of this opera (among them, a 5 minute excerpt that NPR posted yesterday) and they sound intriguing, although I can’t judge the success of the work as a whole. I hope SF Opera will schedule this for a season for which they need a contemporary work, and soon. (hint, hint)LikeLike
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It is quite exciting for Opera Boston too, I imagine.
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I was at the Boston premiere last year. I thought the music was well-written, with the occasional use of Er-hu, and elements of Peking Opera (which, IMO, is quite similar to sprechstimme). The weakest link though, is the libretto.
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A weak libretto is often the case with contemporary opera, I’ve found.
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