Taking the Plunge
It was 2021, and Melisa Tien’s flight was about to take off. She decided to check her email one last time. She and composer Meilina Tsui had submitted their proposal for a new chamber opera to HGO a few months prior. They’d been waiting to hear back. Tien refreshed her inbox—and there it was! She shouted something unpublishable.
“Everybody around the airplane looked at me. And I was like, No, good. This is good stuff. Good news. Good news, you know? And then I had to shut off my phone.” She spent the entire flight in disbelief. She and her new creative partner were going to write HGO’s 76th world premiere. They would name it The Big Swim.
The duo had answered HGO’s call for proposals from composers and librettists to create a new opera commissioned by the company in partnership with the Asia Society Texas. The Asia Society was looking for an operatic work to share at their Museum District theater as part of their Lunar New Year festivities—something that would become an annual tradition. “They were looking for their Nutcracker: an enduring piece of work that could be performed year after year and bring out the spirit of the holiday for everybody,” Tsui explained last fall, when we reached the two creative partners over Zoom.
Their idea was to retell the story of the great race between the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac—re-envisioned as an interactive experience for a modern, family-friendly audience. In a brilliant stroke, they wrote a story that could be adapted for any Zodiac animal's year.
After getting the green light, Tsui and Tien launched a creative process of more than two years, taking a series of trips to Houston, getting to know the city, and workshopping their story and music. When we reached them, they were preparing to return to town for a November orchestra workshop at the Asia Society Texas Center, their first time to experience their full story and score. A few months later, in February 2024, their new opera was set to finally make its world premiere. “I honestly can’t wait any longer,” Tsui declared. “After everything finally comes together, I’ll be able to breathe again.”
During a fun conversation, Tsui and Tien shared more about their new opera.
Tell us about the story.
Tien: I grew up knowing this story, and the thing is, it’s a simple story. You can tell it in a single sentence. There are 12 animals, they race each other, and the order in which they finish the race is the order that they end up in the zodiac. So, I started thinking, what points in that story would I be most excited to experience? The first thing that came to mind was the gathering of the animals and wanting to get to know them. Then actually seeing the race and watching them try to get ahead of each other, thinking that this is the only goal. I just thought, What if they had to work together so that they could stay alive? And then I thought, Okay, I want to make that happen. I don’t know how I’m going to make that happen, but I want that to be the story: that they have to work together in order to all win, essentially.
I understand you kicked off the project with a trip to Houston.
Tien: Right around Lunar New Year of 2022, we came to Houston for a research trip and met the HGO and Asia Society teams, which I thought was amazing. That’s something that I would have wanted to do on my own because neither of us are from Houston. It was a really good idea to just be in the city and get a feel for the communities, go to all these Lunar New Year festivities that are homegrown Houston. We did everything from exploring the temples to going out for dim sum. I remember coming back from that trip and going, That city is so cool. I had no idea. (laughs) I mean, it’s bigger than I thought. And it’s way more diverse than I had originally thought it would be.
How did the chance to workshop the libretto help your process, creatively?
Tsui: The libretto workshops were especially helpful. Even though I didn’t write the text, hearing how it’s spoken, how it’s read—the rhythm of it, the pacing, the stresses—really helped me through composing.
Tien: The librettist’s job becomes a lot harder if the first time they hear the words is when they’re already set to music. There’s something about speaking the rhythm and knowing how the words live in a person’s mouth—that gives you a sense of whether it’s singable and whether it’s too much or too little in the moment, dramatically. So, it was helpful to have that libretto workshop and be able to make those changes as we went along. Having the time and space to do that felt luxurious.
What was your approach to writing for families?
Tien: I think of the shows I liked watching as a kid, because they weren't talking down to me. They were lighthearted and fun to watch but had a serious message at their core. I really like stories like that. So, I let that be my North Star.
Tsui: I had Disney’s Lion King at the back of my head throughout the creation of this piece. It’s a beloved animated film about animals that sing and have human qualities, so it was a great model for us to work from. I tried to get down to what made it so appealing for not just kids, but adults too. I think it’s just got so much diversity with different styles of music, and lots of catchy tunes. I wanted it to be fun and entertaining, yet simple enough for people to remember after the show ends.
What are some interactive elements in The Big Swim?
Tien: The piece opens with the characters inviting the audience into the space, so they’re already interacting with the audience before the music even starts. I want to draw a line from that to this idea that the story is not just about the animals. It’s about humans, too, you know? And so, trying to involve the audience is really saying, look, you’re part of this story, too.
Tsui: Musically, I try to highlight the parts where the characters on stage are speaking directly to the audiences by, all of a sudden, making them not sing, but talk to them instead. Any time we have the characters interact with the audience, they want people to do something with them, so we really need to get their attention.
What message do you want audiences to take away from this?
Tsui: The most important message probably would be community first and competition second. It’s not all about winning or being the fastest or being the strongest, the biggest. It’s about helping each other as a community.
Tien: I would say that the theme is that rather than competing with each other, it’s better to work together toward a common goal. And I hope that the characters discover that by the end. I think they do—all of them.
The production has a pan-Asian look. Does this amalgamation of cultures extend into the music as well?
Tsui: I grew up in Hong Kong and was surrounded by Chinese music, Cantonese music, and all sorts of Asian music. I absorbed it all, and it naturally became a part of my compositional voice. I wouldn’t say that I assigned a specific musical style to each character—like this character is going to be Vietnamese and this character’s Korean or anything like that. It would’ve felt too hokey, so I avoided that. Occasionally I would draw inspiration from certain places, though. For example, let’s say—I took a scale from Japanese traditional music and used it in Snake’s aria. Small, little touches like that.
This marks an HGO debut for the both of you. How has your experience with the HGO team been?
Tien: It’s our collaboration, Meilina and I, but I honestly feel that HGO is like an invisible third collaborator on this. They gave us a lot of time and guidance. I can’t stress enough how valuable that is.
What does receiving the opportunity to tell this story, with an all-Asian cast, set to have its world premiere at the Asia Society Texas, mean for you?
Tien: It’s great to be able to tell a story that we’re familiar with to a community that doesn’t often see itself getting represented. I think that it’s a nice way to look to a story from our culture, and take what is useful from our present, and combine them, and make it entertaining. I don’t often get the chance to do this. The fact that there are going to be so many people watching year after year is amazing.
Tsui: It means everything, really. ∎
HGO AND THE ASIA SOCIETY TEXAS: A STRONG PARTNERSHIP
THE BIG SWIM IS FAR FROM THE FIRST COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE ASIA SOCIETY TEXAS AND HGO. OVER THE PAST DECADE, THIS LONG-TIME PARTNERSHIP HAS SEEN FOUR OTHER HGO WORLD PREMIERES PERFORMED AT AST: BOUND BY HUANG RUO, RIVER OF LIGHT BY JACK PERLA, THE MEMORY STONE BY MARTY REGAN, AND NEW ARRIVALS BY JOHN GLOVER.
NOW THE TWO ORGANIZATIONS ARE BRINGING A FIFTH OPERA TO THE BROWN FOUNDATION PERFORMING ARTS THEATER STAGE AT AST, THROUGH A CREATIVE PROCESS THAT HAS INSPIRED FROM DAY ONE. “IT HAS BEEN A JOY TO WATCH THE BIG SWIM TAKE SHAPE OVER THE LAST THREE YEARS,” SHARES MICHAEL BUENING, THE ASIA SOCIETY TEXAS'S DIRECTOR OF PERFORMING ARTS AND CULTURE. “MEILINA, MELISA, AND THE CREATIVE TEAM HAVE CREATED A WORK THAT IS HEARTFELT, FESTIVE, AND ENJOYABLE FOR ALL AGES. IT CELEBRATES THE TRADITIONS OF LUNAR NEW YEAR WITH A CONTEMPORARY VERVE, AND WE KNOW IT WILL CAPTURE THE HEARTS OF HOUSTONIANS AS MUCH AS IT HAS TOUCHED EVERYONE AT ASIA SOCIETY.”
EXCITEMENT IS MOUNTING AS THE FEBRUARY 16-18 PERFORMANCES DRAW NEAR. “IT HAS LONG BEEN A GOAL FOR ASIA SOCIETY TEXAS TO HAVE A PREMIER PERFORMANCE CENTERED ON LUNAR NEW YEAR AS IT IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT HOLIDAY TRADITIONS IN ASIA AND FOR ASIAN AMERICANS,” SAYS BONNA KOL, PRESIDENT OF ASIA SOCIETY TEXAS. “WE ARE SO PLEASED TO PARTNER WITH HOUSTON GRAND OPERA TO MAKE THIS GOAL A REALITY. WE BELIEVE THE BIG SWIM WILL BECOME A NEW HOLIDAY TRADITION THAT ALL HOUSTONIANS WILL ENJOY FOR YEARS TO COME.” —ALISA MAGALLÓN, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING AND ENGAGEMENT, COMMUNITY AND LEARNING